


FiddleStan Holiday Bonanza

by KillThemWithCandy



Series: Fiddlestan Bonanza Series [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Chrismukkah, Christmas and Hanukkah, F/F, M/M, Post-Weirdmageddon, Sibling Banter, Sign Language, aromantic Stanford, no one dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-05 21:28:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5391053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillThemWithCandy/pseuds/KillThemWithCandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuous story from December 9th, 2015 to the 22nd of just FiddleStan.<br/>Mabel and Dipper come to Gravity Falls for the winter holidays to spend it with their Grunkles. During this they plan to have a family Chrismakkuh and spend as much time together as they can with everyone they left back in Gravity Falls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Joy, Gold, Revelations

The Mystery Shack was alight. Gold colored lights hung around every door and along every overhang. The letters high above the house were each outlined in more gold lights that must've taken Wendy and Soos hours to hang.

Most of the Bill Cipher iconography was gone. The triangle above the gift shop was replaced with a large wreath, and inside you wouldn't find a single triangular image. The only thing that remained was the window in the attic (only because it was shaped that way with the house), and it now had a large curtain that could be used to cover it. It had basically been purged the Shack of anything that even slightly resembled that demonic monster.

The adult twin brothers who lived there together were bundled up and waiting outside on the couch, holding tightly onto their large cups of hot chocolate and sipping them whenever their throats went numb.

And finally, after an hour of waiting outside, a bus drove by and the older-looking of the pair almost dropped his cup in excitement. He bundled his scarf up tighter and hurried off without his brother to make his way down the road to the bus stop nearby.

Stanford had just made it to the road when Dipper and Mabel came barreling out of the bus and tackled his brother. He could hear the trio squealing in joy, yelling all sorts of happy greetings.

Stanford hurried over and took the kids' bags from the impatient bus driver and waved them along. He set the bags on the ground and lifted up the first child he reached, who gasped and hurried to hug him tight.

"Great Uncle Ford!"

"Hey, Mabel." He didn't care that her vice grip hug was cutting off his breathing, the fact that she was glad to see him made him happier than he had felt in months, "How have you been, sweetheart?"

She grinned and released her grip on Ford's neck, "I'm in musical theater at school and we got to do this big Christmas play about a musical house trying to put on a musical but they have a curse so they can't play anything with a female lead, but there aren't any good male actors so they have to! I got to be the owner of the musical house! I even got my own solo song!" She gasped, "And Dipper," she pointed at her brother, who had climbed onto Stan's back, "Dipper joined the mathletes and they went all the way to the state-wide championship!"

Ford smiled and carefully bent over to grab the bags once again, "Really?"

Dipper smiled, "It wasn't hard. They didn't ever go past some advanced algebra and geometry, so I only got one question wrong and that was because I was anxious over.... Uh...."

"He had to do a geometry problem that looked like Bill! It even scared me."

Dipper blushed and sighed, "I missed a couple of variables and completely botched the equation. My answer was nowhere near right."

Stan smiled, "Wait, you're saying you only missed one problem out of all the ones they gave you?"

"Yeah?"

"Dang, kiddo! That's incredible!" Stan grinned and bounced Dipper on his back a few times, "We totally should've gone, Ford! Hey, when's your next competition?"

"You have to be a silent observer, Stanley." Ford told him.

Stan paused for a moment, thought, and then grinned, "Then I guess Mabel and I will just have to wear matching sweaters with Dipper's face on them."

They laughed and talked as they made their way up the steps and into the shack. Ford set down Mabel and went to go take their bags up to the attic.

Stan let Dipper down and prompted them to go to the TV room while he got them some food.

The twins agreed and did as they were told, and Dipper flipped on the lights.

"WELCOME BACK!"

The pair jumped nearly out of their skin and Mabel grabbed a lamp in reflex, ready to attack the nearest person.

Pacifica, Candy, Grenda, Soos, Wendy, Robbie, Fiddleford, and Mayor Tyler were all huddled in the small room and a few more familiar faces were poking out of the doorway to the gift shop.

Mabel tossed the lamp aside and squeal, running for her three friends and tackling them to the ground.

Wendy, Robbie, and Soos all came over to Dipper and immediately started telling him all about the supernatural things going on.

Stan and Ford came into the room, both carrying either end of a cake that read WELCOME BACK DIPPER AND MABEL in blue and pink icing.

* * *

 

"I can't eat any more sweets." Mabel groaned, "I'm going to explode."

Pacifica gagged, "Gross. At least if you explode all that sugar will make it smell nicer."

"No exploding on your first day back." Stan chastised, "I promised your parents you would come back without a scratch and definitely not scarred from watching people get murdered and being possessed, kidnapped, or tortured. Also, Grandpa Shermie is coming by for a couple days next week so you need to be whole."

Mabel grinned, "Grandpa Shermie! He gives the best Chrismukkah presents!"

"I think he's gonna have some competition this year. Stan chuckled and leaned in the doorway to the gift shop, "You have both your Grunkles this year and all your friends here, remember?"

Pacifica smirked, "I'm taking this as a challenge. I now have to find you the perfect present for Christ.... mackua? What was it?"

"Chrismukkah!" She grinned, "Christmas and Hanukkah!"

"Yeah, that."

Stan chuckled and looked down at a hand on his shoulder.

"Stanley, the kids are having a soda drinking contest and sent me to get them some drinks. You got any extra?" Fiddleford, cleanly trimmed and groomed, smiled up through his glasses.

"Yeah, should be a few of twelve packs of Pitt in the kitchen. I'll help you." Stan lead the ex-hillbilly through the room and to the kitchen. He knelt down and opened up a cabinet, pulled out a couple of twelve packs, handed them to Fiddleford, and then stacked two in each of his own arms.

"Goodness." Fiddleford chuckled.

"So who's drinking?"

"Dipper, Wendy, Robbie, and Thompson.... I believe."

"My money's on Wendy. I've seen that girl knock back a bunch of soda during her work shifts. She made a giant stack behind the counter that actually impressed customers."

"Oh, really?"

"So, being the great protégée she is, she charged them twenty bucks to take a picture with her stacking them." He pretended to sniffle and choke up, "I'm so proud."

Fiddleford chuckled and followed Stan back out to the TV room where Mabel leapt onto her feet and practically screamed, "STOP!" with a huge grin on her face.

"What the.... hel-heck is wrong, sweetie?" Stan stuttered a second, remembering to censor himself after months of not.

Mabel grinned, "You guys passed under mistletoe together!" She pointed up at the ceiling and the pair looked up.

Stan frowned at it, unable to accuse Mabel of hanging that up herself because he remembered doing it just so he could give Mabel a Winter Romance moment that she didn't get during the summer.

But now he was there.

With Fiddleford.

"Look, kiddo, I'm gonna drop these." Stan tried.

So, of course, she had a plan to fix that. She and Pacifica took a twelve pack from his arms each, leaving him with one in each hand like Fiddleford.

"There!" Pacifica smiled, "Now you're fine."

"Now kiss!" Mabel bounced excitedly.

Stan huffed and looked down at Fiddleford, "She'll kill us if we don't."

Fiddleford looked like he was either on the brink of or having a heart attack. He looked up at Stan, face red and shuffled, "I, uh.... Yeah. Okay."

Stan felt his cheeks flare when Fiddleford closed his eyes. He took a short breath and leaned down to press a short kiss to Fiddleford's lips.

His beard was a lot softer than he thought it would be. It was like pillow fluff brushing gently against his cheeks, and his lips were obviously chapped from the cold and when Stan pulled away and licked his lips he could taste cake frosting.

"There." Stan nodded to himself and made his was quickly toward the gift shop, followed by the girls and a dazed Fiddleford.

Stan didn't stay to watch the contest. He fled the scene rather quickly to the kitchen, which was empty. He put his hands on his cheeks, feeling just how hot they were. His heart was hammering in his chest and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

When Ford stepped in the room and asked him why he looked like he was just attacked that it his Stan.

"Oh shit."

Ford frowned, "I thought swearing wasn't allowed while the kids were in town."

Stan didn't hear him and covered his face, "No, no, I'm too old for this! Oh, this is awful!"

"Stanley, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Stan shook his head vigorously.

"What is it?"

Stan groaned.

"Stanley, talk to me! What happened?"

Stan let his hands fall and looked at his brother, "I think I'm in love with Fiddleford."

Ford stood there for four seconds, not reacting, before he frowned in confusion and looked down at the floor, trying to process the information. He looked back at Stan, then the doorway, back at Stan, and a wide grin rivaling one of Mabel's spread across his face.

"No."

"That's adorable."

"Shut up."

"Is it his accent? Lots of girls liked his accent in college."

"I hate you."

"Oh, did he play banjo for you? Did you swoon over his music?"

"I want to kill you."

"How about his hair? Well, he doesn't have much anymore except for that beard."

"Mabel had me kiss him."

Ford gasped dramatically, "My baby brother? Kissed a boy?"

"I'm only a few seconds younger than you! And I look older!"

"Oh my gosh, this is hilarious. Did you like it? Was his beard funny?"

Stan leaned on the table and huffed, "It was.... nice." He didn't notice as his lips curled into a slight smile, "And his beard wasn't awful. It was kinda soft."

Ford paused and looked his brother over, "Wow. You actually like him." He chuckled, "Well, I'm sure if you talk to him he'd give you a date or two before your weirdness scares him off."

"He hung out with you for how long before you finally scared and scarred him enough to drive him off?" Stan snarked and rolled his eyes, "Plus we're both in our sixties, not a couple of dorky teenagers who can go dance at some diner and share milkshakes and sneak into movies or whatever."

"Well, why not?" Ford smiled, "I mean, you don't have to do the crazy dancing that you did with Carla for those competitions, but you can dance with him at Mabel's inevitable Chrismukkah party, and you can go get milkshakes at the diner. And you sneak into the movies all the time, why can't you just bring him? Maybe he'll actually get you to legally buy a ticket."

Stan chuckled, "Maybe. I dunno. It all seems so dumb. I mean, my wife divorced me after six hours and then years later I got drunk and married a coin machine in Vegas with your name. I'm not exactly lucky in romance."

"You were able to put together that portal based on incomplete blueprints and the scrawlings of a man out of his mind. I think you can figure it out. Just relax and think." Ford smiled and left his brother to his thoughts.

And think Stan did.

For two hours.

Leaning against the table, arms crossed, looking like the Sphinx had just posed him the biggest riddle of his life.


	2. Ice, Charity, Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blackmail and crushes.

Mabel had convinced Grunkle Stan to let her friends stay the night. This meant that Dipper had the attic to himself and Mabel, Candy, Grenda, and Pacifica were all in Soos' break room with sleeping bags and all the extra sweets and snacks from the party. Pacifica provided all of the girls with an enormous bag full of beauty products that were easy to wash so they could play with it as much as they wanted.

This meant that Ford, who was still sleeping in his makeshift office in the basement, was the only one who didn't fall asleep to the smell of perfume and the sounds of girlish laughter.

Ford was usually the first person awake anyways, and he often made breakfast if Stan hadn't already called dibs. So waking up and making his way to the kitchen to whip together a large bowl of eggs, biscuits, and try his best at Stan's sausage gravy recipe wasn't a hassle or anything new to him.

When the kids were drawn to the kitchen by the smell, however, they seemed astonished.

"I didn't know you could cook, Great Uncle Ford." Mabel smiled sleepily.

"I didn't know you were some kind of amalgamation of every color I've ever seen." He chuckled, "Girls, go clean up."

Pacifica laughed through a yawn, "Candy, you have a foundation brush in your hair."

"That is because my hair is the foundation of all beauty."

"WE'RE BEAUTIFUL!" Grenda punched the air with both fists.

"You also smell like you attacked a perfume store and look like a unicorn barfed on your faces." Dipper groaned, "Please. I can't breathe and I'm not sure which of you is my twin."

"Oh, fine, you big baby." Mabel huffed and ushered her friends out to get cleaned up.

Dipper smiled at Ford as the elder placed a plate of food in front of him and asked what he would like to drink.

"Just milk. Hey, Great Uncle Ford? When are we doing Chrismukkah this year?"

"What do you mean?"

Dipper took the glass of milk offered to him, "Well, Hanukkah started the day Mabel and I left home. So we're two days behind."

"You do Hanukkah on the actual days? Stan and I were planning on the eight days before Christmas. We can do them as soon as possible if you kids want, we just need to get candles."

Dipper grinned, "Sounds good to me!"

Ford smiled and made himself a plate of food and poured a cup of coffee from the pot and sat with Dipper. They ate happily and chatted over all the supernatural things that had happened since they'd left. The girls came back, all cleaned up, and Ford made them all plates and glasses. He'd barely sat back down when they heard a loud crash down the hall and a shout of pain.

"SON OF A- WHY THE- OH, THAT HURT! THAT HURT LIKE A FFFF-" Thudding footsteps came down the hall and Stan came rushing in, dodging past the chairs and grabbing Ford's coffee, gulping it down quickly and gagging, "Ugh, how can you drink that without sugar?" He tossed the mug down and wiped his mouth, pausing only to press kisses to the top of Mabel and Dipper's head, "I love you, kids."

Ford did an odd gesture with his right hand, his thumb bent into his palm. He tapped the hand in his forehead, holding steady eye contact with his brother, who swiped his hand under his chin and waved.

"Bye!"

Ford groaned as Stan left and got up to refill his coffee cup, "So what do you kids want to do today?"

Mabel scoffed, "Oh, Great Uncle Ford. You're so cute." She waved her fork, "We're going to follow Grunkle Stan and see why he was in such a hurry so we can have blackmail if we need it."

Dipper chuckled and nodded in agreement, "I'm going to bring my camera."

"Oh?" Ford chuckled, "And why don't you just ask where he is?"

This time Pacifica laughed, "You never followed people for blackmail, did you? That's cute."

"I followed my boyfriend's rich friends so I could blackmail them into liking me!" Grenda announced."

"I have blackmail on Dipper that I use to force him to play girly video games with us." Candy added.

Dipper huffed, "Well, Mabel and I have blackmail on every family member we have."

Ford frowned, "What? What blackmail do you have on me?"

The boy smiled, "I can't tell you that! Then you might destroy precious evidence I haven't photocopied yet."

"I'm officially scared of a bunch of thirteen year olds." He chuckled awkwardly, "Alright, young ones. Teach me your skills in blackmail stalking."

 

It was easy to figure out where Stan had gone. With a couple questions to the people walking around Gravity Falls, they were able to determine what destructive and speedy route Stan had taken to the Gravity Falls Mall. From there it was a task of looking for him stealthily.

They decided to break into teams of two: Mabel and Pacifica, Candy and Grenda, and Dipper and Ford. They split up and searched every store and every bathroom.

Honestly, it took them much longer than it should have.

They only finally found him when they reconvened after half an hour. They huddled around a table in the food court, each confused. Stan's car was in the parking lot, so he hadn't left. Where could he be?

Then Ford perked up and looked around.

"What?" Mabel asked.

"I swear, I keep hearing Lee's laugh...." He stood up and observed his surroundings. The kids all stared at him for a good two minutes before they all heard it as well. That distinctive, loud, guttural laugh. Ford was quick to find its origin and paused. "Dipper."

"Yeah?"

"Give me that camera."

"What, why?"

"Give it to me!" Ford was quick to retrieve it from the boy and hurried off, a hoard of children following him.

Then they all saw him.

"Your uncle is the Mall Santa?"

Sure enough, Stan was dressed as Santa, sitting on a big velvet-covered chair, a line of children excited to sit on his lap. He seemed genuinely excited, too. Excited enough that he didn't see Ford taking up an entire roll of film with pictures of him.

And McGucket was with him, they noticed, dressed as an elf and telling the children waiting stories from a tall stack of books. When Stan called out to him he would close the book he had and guide the next child in line to see "Santa", then return to continue his story.

"We're getting in line." Dipper grinned, "Mabel, go grab Great Uncle Ford before he uses the last of the film." Dipper hurried off to get in line as Mabel went to get their Great Uncle.

The line took ages to get through and Pacifica made a run with Candy to get everyone snacks and drinks within minutes. A few minutes after that she got really bored and the four girls were taking selfies on her phone and putting stickers and filters of all sorts on them. By the time they got to the group waiting with Fiddleford, Pacifica had saved over two hundreds silly pictures.

Fiddleford froze the instant he saw the group.

"So." Mabel smiled and sat on the ground, "Why is our dear Grunkle Stan Santa?"

Fiddleford scratched the back of his head, "Well, uh.... I asked him to? Dan Corduroy used to but he opted out this year for person reasons. So I was going to until I asked Stan yesterday."

Ford paused, "When?"

"When we were cleaning up."

The genius chuckled, "Hm. What's this all for?"

"Oh, it's a charity fund to help with repairs around town. The water tower needs to be drained of animal blood and replaced with actual water, lots of houses are still in disrepair, things like that."

"You mean Stan isn't getting paid for this?" Dipper frowned, "That doesn't sound like our Grunkle."

"I was surprised, too!" Fiddleford smiled, "But he seemed pretty excited when I told him I'd be helping out. He practically did a one-eighty!"

"I bet he did." Ford shook his head, "Hey, Fids, is Tate in town for Christmas this year?"

"Ah.... No. No, he left town after everything settled down this summer. He gave me the key to his house, though, so I'm not living at the dump!"

"Spend the holidays with us. At the Shack."

Fiddleford lit up like a fire-hazard Christmas Tree, "Really?"

"Of course! My old room works as a guest room since I'm still working down in my lab on sealing demons out of this dimension. You can use that room."

"You really mean it?"

"Of course. You're obviously becoming good friends with my brother and I want to rebuild the friendship we had, and what better way than spending the holidays together?"

"I'd love that!"

"Okay, who's the next little kid to see Santa?" Stan called out.

Mabel and Dipper skipped over and hopped up onto the familiar lap. "Hello, Santa." They sang in unison, "We've been really good this year."

Stan froze, terror on his face.

"Alright, kids. Let's get a nice photo with Santa." Ford chimed, bringing his twin's attention to him, "Say blackmail!"

"Blackmail!" The kids grinned as Ford snapped the photo, Stan's face still unchanged from his look of horror.

"We love you, Grunkle Santa!" Dipper and Mabel hugged Stan tight and hurried off, their friends following behind and waving to Stan as they left.

 

"You have no heart."

Ford chuckled, "Stanley, what ever are you talking about?"

"I've determined that your heart has been replaced by a chunk of ice and you have ice running through your veins." Stan slumped into a kitchen chair.

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, you stalked me, for one. You took a picture, for two. And then you told Fids to spend the holidays with us for three."

"But he told me you were just so excited to be Santa with him, how could I deprive you of spending more time with your new best friend?"

Stan was about to retort when Fiddleford walked in anxiously, "Um, Stanley? Would you mind kindly showing me how to work your shower? I can't for the life of me figure it out, and I'm an engineer!" He chuckled.

"Y-yeah. No problem." Stan stood and glared at his brother, signing quickly.

_Not a word._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The signs Stan and Ford use at the beginning are "bastard" and "fuck you"


	3. Song, Wonder, Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The snow falls and more smitten Stan.

 

Dipper and Mabel woke up quietly, their toes freezing and a calm chill in the air. They both sat up slowly and started their morning routines. It was only broken by a quiet gasp of delight and Mabel's footsteps towards the window, where small flurries of snow drifted down.

Gravity Falls had been snowy when they arrived, but it was a hard snow that had solidified before the kids had arrived, so a fresh fallen batch meant one thing.

"Snow day." Mabel whispered happily and hurried to search her vast array of winter sweaters to find the snowflake one.

Dipper smiled and slowly dressed, pulling on the jacket Mabel and their mother had made for him specifically for this trip with a large pine tree symbol on the back and a smaller one on the front left breast.

They hurried down the stairs in their socks to find Ford and Fiddleford sitting in the kitchen, staring out the window with large cups of hot chocolate and leftover pancakes in front of them. Dipper hurried to make a plate for himself and Mabel while she made them cups of hot chocolate.

"Where's Stan?" Dipper asked quietly.

"He went to go find some warm clothes for Fids and some of his 'special Christmas attractions' for the tourist rush he says is coming." Ford chuckled.

Dipper set two plates of pancakes out and thanked Mabel when she handed him a mug full of hot chocolate and covered in colorful marshmallows.

The group sat in peaceful silence, watching the snow fall.

When Stan came in he planned fully on being as loud and disruptive as possible just to annoy Ford, but paused when he saw the kids, and then completely abandoned the plan when he saw the smile on Fiddleford's face and the faint blush from the heat of the drink in his hands.

So Stan carried in the bundle of clothes he found and dropped them on his chair in the sitting room, grabbing one article off the top. He strolled into the kitchen and draped the jacket over Fiddleford's shoulders, definitely not blushing and turning away hastily when Fiddleford smiled gratefully up at him.

"I found a bunch of clothes for you. Sort through what you like and what fits. Anything else we can donate or whatever."

Fiddleford smiled and pulled his arms into the sleeves, zipping up the jacket and burying his face in it. It smelled faintly of motor oil and something familiar, but he couldn't place what.

Of course Ford recognized it immediately as Stan's old letter jacket from Glass Shard Beach High. He pulled his coat tighter around himself, wondering just what that jacket had been through. It looked extremely worn and was faded in a lot of places, and the stitched PINES on the back looked like it had been ripped off and sewn back on more than a few times with different colored threads. Even though it had been Stan's as a teenager, it still engulfed Fiddleford completely and made him look smaller than he was.

"Do you need some help, Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked as she got up to grab a bunch of decorations from Stan's hands.

"Thanks, sweetie." Stan smiled, "At least someone cares enough to help the poor old man!"

"Yeah, I don't care at all." Ford smiled back at his brother, "You seem fine."

"You keep this up and you're getting coal of Chrismakkuh. Literal coal. I will go out of my way to get you the crappiest pathetic lumps of coal that I can find just to throw at your head."

"He has a metal plate in his head, it won't do much." Dipper chimed.

Stan paused and grinned, "Hey, kids? Remember my scam over the summer that involved high-powered, industrial sized magnets?"

Fiddleford chuckled as Ford rushed out of his seat to take everything from his brother's hands and rush it to the museum. When he came running back in he basically tackled Stan with a loud "Hup!" and lifted him over his shoulder. He then dropped him into the chair next to Fiddleford and told him, "I got it! Don't worry! I'll get everything!"

"Don't break the leg lamp!" Stan yelled, "It's a novelty piece!"

Fiddleford smiled, "Good mornin', Stanley. How'd you sleep?"

Stan paused, "Oh, uh.... Hey. I slept okay. What about you? That break room isn't too dusty, is it?"

"It was wonderful, thank you." Fiddleford smiled, "It was so kind of your brother to offer for me to stay with y'all. It's been a while since I've celebrated anything, really. Legitimately celebrated, that is, not just participated. It's nice to be around people for once."

Stan paused, "Well, I'll make sure you have the best time possible! Oh! I- just- stay here." He grinned and hurried out of the room, almost tripping over himself in his hurry.

Fiddleford sat patiently where he was, his now empty mug still in his hands. He contemplated getting up and making some more, but he realized he didn't know how or where the cocoa powder was and decided against it. However, he did get up to rinse his mug out and leave it in the sink until he could ask what he was supposed to do with finished dishes.

Then music rose up through the air that he recognized. He smiled and chuckled, humming along to the familiar tune.

"Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.... Had a very shiny nose." He quietly sang along and leaned against the counter.

Stan came into the kitchen with a grin, "Well?"

"The music?" Fiddleford asked and grinned when Stan nodded, "It's perfect. Thank you."

Stan felt his cheeks flare up again but decided to ignore it for the beautiful smile on the other man's face. It should not be biologically possible for someone who was only recently living in a dump eating whatever he could get his hands on. But now he was standing here, in Stan's kitchen, looking serene and peaceful, quietly singing along to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Mabel and Dipper didn't say anything when they came into the kitchen. They shared a look, Mabel and excited and Dipper shocked. It was extremely plain based on the wonder plastered across Stan's face what was going on.


	4. Cold, Goodwill, Merry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow, sweaters, skating, and cuteness.

 

A good four inches of snow fell overnight, covering Gravity Falls in a large white blanket.

This also meant that the Shack, which was rather cold as it is, was freezing.

Mabel and Dipper both had gotten up in the middle of the night and decided to curl up for warmth together on Mabel's bed, which had more blankets. Mabel also gave Dipper one of her warmer sweaters and Dipper let Mabel have a pair of sweatpants he'd packed.

When they came down in the morning, they brought three of the presents they'd packed to give early.

"It's really cold, so have some early presents." Mabel quickly gave Stan and Fiddleford theirs while Dipper gave Ford his.

Fiddleford was quick to open his and pull on the sweater inside without looking at what was on it, relishing in the warmth it gave. He looked down when Stan gave a chuckle and smiled. On the front of his dark brown sweater was a white patch that looked almost exactly like his old beard, just a bit shorter.

"Well thank you, Mabel! I'm quite glad I didn't actually get rid of my beard entirely, or my poor face would probably be frozen right now."

Ford chuckled and opened his own present, actually holding the sweater out to look at it before he pulled it on. On the dark red fabric was a sewn on six-fingered hand exactly like the one on his old journals, but this time with a pine tree and a shooting star inside of them.

"I'm definitely making this the cover for my new journals." He smiled, "And you two will help me fill them with all sorts of new and wonderful things."

"Save the best for last!" Stan grinned and tore his open, holding it up to look at. "Nice." He pulled on the black sweater to show that it had been sewn with the idea of his Mr. Mystery costume in mind, perfectly replicating it onto the sweater, "I love it. Thanks, sweetheart."

"Dipper helped!" She told him, "He sketched out the ideas and cut the fabric!"

"Well, thank you both, then." Fiddleford smiled, "This'll keep us warmer."

"Just a bit of goodwill to keep the spirit of the season!" Mabel grinned, "So what are we doing today? Besides freezing."

Ford smiled, "I was going to suggest the museum. They're having a big History of the Holidays event this weekend." He seemed genuinely excited for this and didn't notice the stiffness that racked Fiddleford's body, "Have they changed the exhibits? I haven't been there since.... well, since I first moved here! Oh, didn't you work as a curator for a while there, Fiddle- Fiddleford?"

"I don't want to go."

Mabel and Dipped practically jumped out of their skin to get to his side, offering comforting reassurances that he didn't have to.

"What? What did I do?" Ford looked to his brother for help, who only shrugged.

"The kids spent a bit of time with him over the summer, but I never questioned them about stuff." Stan shrugged.

"Why don't we go see if the lake is frozen over? Why don't we go ice skating, huh?" Mabel offered gently, "We might even see the real Gobblewonker!"

Fiddleford chuckled, "Sweetie, I made that up."

"Nope. It's real, I know it in my heart." She grinned.

"Yeah, ice skating sounds fun, right?" Dipper smiled and looked to their uncles.

"Yeah, of course!"

"That's way better than my idea!"

Dipper prompted Fiddleford to come with him to find if Stan had any ice skates in the Shack and Mabel stayed behind.

"The museum is where Mister McGucket started his Blind Eye Society, Great Uncle Ford." She said quickly, "It's also where he completely erased it from the mind of its members. It's also where he remembered exactly why he was insane and disowned. So the museum is a definitive 'no' until he feels better."

"Oh." Ford rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't know that."

Mabel shrugged, "It's okay. You do now, so let him heal and decide to visit the museum on his own time."

Both of the older twins nodded quickly.

"Okay." She smiled, "So what's the likelihood of us finding ice skates?"

* * *

 

"I can't believe you made me legitimately buy five pairs of skates with real money."

"Oh, hush, you big baby." Fiddleford scolded, "You got no reason to break the law as you do. You can spend a few dollars on your family."

"And you." Stan added.

"Oh, yes. Right. And me."

Mabel and Dipper shared a look, one excited and the other amused. Ford glanced over at them and smirked. The kids knew.

More importantly: Mabel knew.

The Gravity Falls Lake was completely frozen and there were a few groups of people out on it skating, including Wendy and her family. Wendy was leading all her brothers in a line, each of them holding hands, and doing their best to keep on their feet as their sister raced them around the area of the lake cleared off for skating. When she saw the Pines, she slowed a little to wave excitedly.

"Hey dudes! Join the line! I'm gonna pull everyone!" She gave a roar, which made all her brothers laugh, and hurried on.

Mabel and Dipper hurried to pull off their shoes and get the skates on so they could hang out with their friend. Fiddleford hurried to help them tie up the laces, which made Stan chuckle.

"Careful, Fiddles. You pamper those kids too much and they're going to actually think you like them or something." He joked.

Fiddleford smiled and finished lacing Mabel's skates, "Says the one who cried like a newborn the day after said children left because he woke up and they weren't there."

Mabel and Dipper grinned, "We love you, too, Grunkle Stan!" They exclaimed in unison.

Stan's face flushed and he sputtered, "W-Well, yeah! I had to deal with Ford on my own. Anyone would cry." He crossed his arms and went to go put on his skates.

Fiddleford rolled his eyes and tied Dipper's laces before standing, "Oh, what a baby." He chuckled and followed after him.

Ford took the opportunity to sit with the kids, "So...." He grinned, "You know about Lee's little crush, right?"

Mabel squealed, "I knew it! We saw him staring at Mister McGucket like he was the best thing to ever grace this planet!"

"It was seriously sappy." Dipper laughed, "But, yeah, I guess it was cute. Is McGucket into guys?"

Ford paused, "Well.... Yes. Yes he is."

"You're sure?"

"I lived with him for three years in college. I'm certain." He pointed at Mabel before she could start talking, "No, I didn't date him. I'm not big on romance."

She deflated a bit and poured before remembering their original topic, "So are we going to do some kind of super awesome plan to get them together?"

"Let's let them sort themselves out, Mabes." Dipper told her, "Remember what happened last time you got obsessed with someone else's love life?"

"Robbie and Tambry are extremely happy together and they're going to get married one day." She snapped at him.

Ford frowned, unsure if he wanted details on this story, "Well, let's leave them be for now, but I'm all for tormenting Lee over his adorable little crush." He looked over and saw his brother helping Fiddleford get his skates on.

"They would be so perfect together!" Mabel grinned.

"Yeah, and then we'd have three great uncles." Dipper laughed, "Oh, Wendy's coming back around! Come on!" He helped his sister up and they hurried off to join the Wendy Drag Line.

Ford chuckled and decided to actually join them on the ice and started unlacing his boots to replace with the skates.

When he got onto the ice he kept an eye on his brother and their mutual friend. Fiddleford seemed extremely shaky, but Stan was mostly stable and was skating around with him.

Mabel was right.

They would make a great couple.


	5. Family, Glimmer, Warmth

It was a huge surprise.

Stan and Ford hasn't even expected it to happen this soon.

But it did and they had to hurry with preparations.

Because that morning everyone was startled awake by a loud knocking on the door. When Stan called out, Mabel and Dipper hurried downstairs to see who it was.

If anyone had managed to fall asleep again, they were definitely awake after the loud, twin shrieking of "GRANDPA!"

Stan hurried out to see his baby brother with Mabel and Dipper hugging him tight. He chuckled and leaned against the doorframe.

"What happened to 'I'll probably arrive around Christmas'?" He questioned.

Shermie smiled, "I was wrong. Now, am I coming inside or do I have to sleep out here?"

"I slept outside the Shack and got attacked by a wolf!" Dipper told him excitedly, "I have scars!"

Stan stepped out of the doorway and Shermie came inside with the kids close behind.

"Did you bring presents?"

"What did you get me?"

"Did you know Great Uncle Ford was sucked into a portal?"

"Are you staying all break?"

"I punched a unicorn!"

Shermie chuckled and held up his hands, "Kids, I'm tired."

Stan paused, "Oh, yeah. Um.... Gimme a sec, I'll see what I can set up."

Stan hurried to the gift shop and opened the vending machine to find Ford standing there, dazed.

"What's going on?" He grumbled.

"You invited Fids to stay. Shermie is here. Where is he supposed to sleep?" Stan hissed.

Ford paused and thought, "Oh. Well, shi- uh, shoot."

Stan groaned and rubbed his eyes, "Okay, we can.... We can't make Fids sleep on the couch, he'll panic and think Weirdmageddon has started again. He can't stay down with you or he'll think you're still working on the portal, and the attic doesn't have room...."

"Have him stay with you." Ford told him, "You have a big bed and he's a small guy. It'll be fine."

Stan hesitated, looking obviously unsettled by this proposition.

"Stanley, it'll be okay." Ford told him, "Fids'll understand. Come on, I'll go see Shermie while you tell him." He smiled and put a hand on Stan's shoulder to reassure him.

Stan nodded and headed towards the break room where Fiddleford was sleeping while Ford made his way to the sitting room. When h got there, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He waited a little while without a reply and slowly opened the door.

"Fids?"

The room was dark and the bed seemed completely empty. Upon further inspection, Stan found that it was. The blanket had been taken and a couple of pillows with it. Stan frowned and looked around the room, finding it empty.

He decided to actually search, looking under the bed and in tight spots only a man as small as Fiddleford could fit. When each spot he thought of turned up empty, he got more and more worried.

"Stanley?"

Stan jumped up and turned to the door, where Fiddleford stood, wrapped in his blanket and clutching a couple of pillows tight.

"Fids!" Stan hurried over to him, "Where'd you go? Are you okay?"

"I heard screaming...." He shuffled, "I thought.... I thought maybe...."

Stan paused, "Oh. Oh, Fids, hey. It's okay." He hurried over to him and wrapped his arms around him, "You're safe. It's all over." He ran his hands through the small tufts of hair on Fiddleford's head and held him close, "It was just the kids excited to see their grandfather."

Fiddleford dropped his pillows and held onto Stan tight, "I went to go sleep at the end of your bed like I used to, but you weren't there."

Stan smiled, "It'll be okay. I was in here looking for you. Since my brother showed up early, would you mind sharing a bed with me so he can sleep in here?"

Fiddleford nodded quickly against Stan's chest.

"Alright. Let's go set you up in my room. You'll have to leave the blanket here."

"Yeah.... Yeah, okay."

* * *

 

Breakfast with Shermie was eventful. Ford, Dipper, and Mabel all told him exciting stories of the supernatural, which he listened to excitedly. Mabel made huge gestures whenever she talked about something, Dipper sketched out a lot of stuff, and Ford demonstrated a few things he had to emphasize his points.

It wasn't until they calmed down they realized Stan and Fiddleford had never come out for food.

Ford elected to go check up on them and made his way to Stan's room and pushed the door open. He rolled his eyes when he saw two lumps still in bed and approached quietly, intending to gently wake Fiddleford before scaring the shit out of his brother.

He paused, however, when he saw how they were cuddled up to each other, likely for warmth, with Fiddleford enveloped in Stan's grasp and almost completely on top of him with Stan looking as content as he'd ever been despite having the other on him.

Ford crept out of the room and headed back to the kitchen to get Mabel and a camera.

He snapped a photo before letting Mabel in the room.

And the expected happened.

"Oh my gosh!" She squealed and leapt onto the bed, startling both of the men awake, "You're cuddling, that's so cute! Can I cuddle, too? I demand to be part of this cuddle session!" She forced her way between Fiddleford and Stan and grinned when the pair chuckled and squeezed her tight.

Eventually Shermie and Dipper came in and everyone was piled up on Stan's bed, chatting about anything and everything. Mabel eventually moved to Grunkle Stan's lap because she was cutting off circulation to his and Fiddleford's arms.

No one made a comment when Fiddleford snuggled up against Stan's arm.

Eventually they pulled Stan and Fiddleford out of bed and got them on their way to getting dressed. Once they had on warm clothes, including their new sweaters, they all got bundled up with scarves and gloves and headed out into town.

"What are we doing?" Stan asked.

Dipper smiled, "We figured since Grandpa's here, we'll do Hanukkah now. So we decided we can show him around Gravity Falls while we get candles."

Fiddleford smiled, "I'm excited. I've never celebrated Hanukkah before."

"Well, we're excited to have you with us." Shermie smiled, "I've heard a lot about you, Mister Fiddleford."

He paused a second and wrung his hands, "Um.... Like what?"

"Oh, all good things. You went to college and worked with Stanford, you tried to knock some sense into the idiot-"

"Hey!" Ford huffed.

"You helped my grand babies fight monsters and demons and cultists all summer, and you're good friends with Stanley. Things like that."

Stan smiled, "Fids is great. He's brilliant, too. Smarter than Sixer!"

"I'm starting to think this family hates me."

Mabel grinned, "Mister McGucket is a really good engineer! He made a robot that could swim underwater!"

"And he made personal computers for a long time before Great Uncle Ford called him to help with his portal." Dipper added, "If he hadn't, we'd probably all be getting McGucket brand computers!"

Fiddleford buried his face in his scarf to hide his blushing cheeks.

"You know," Shermie smiled, "Stanley's a genius when it comes to business and convincing to buy what you have. You could probably open a little computer shop here in Gravity Falls with his help."

Fiddleford paused, "Oh." He looked up at Stan, "I hadn't thought about that." He smiled, "That sounds like it would be fun."

Stan looked down at him and felt his heart almost beat out of his chest. Wow. That smile was gorgeous. How was he supposed to say no to that face? "Sure. I've got some cash from the Shack I can use to get us started. We just have to get a place to start it."

Oh, no. Fiddleford was grinning now. He looked so excited. There was a literal glimmer in his eyes. There was no was Stan wasn't blushing now. His heart was pounding hard and he had this nearly uncontrollable urge to lift the small man up and kiss him like he'd never been kissed before.

Instead, he smiled back and shoved his hands deeper in his pockets.

He stayed quiet the whole way to the store and even paid for the candles without argument.

Ford pulled his brother aside after two hours of complete silence.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

Stan let out a high-pitched whining sound. He covered his face with his hands and the whining turned to groaning.

"What is it now?"

"He's so _cute_!" He whimpered, "His stupid face and his dumb smile and just.... That is not allowed! He is not allowed to be that cute, God damn it! I'm old, my heart can't take this shit."

"Language."

Stan pulled at his hair, "I'm going to buy him a _store_! And I don't feel bad about spending money on him! And I actually want to! I think Fiddleford is some kind of monster with mind control powers."

Ford chuckled, "Of course he is, but they only work on smitten old geezers named Stanley Pines."

Stan kicked a bunch of snow at Ford's knees.

"Seriously, Lee?" Ford sighed, "Just tell Fiddleford you're interested. He isn't going to say no."

Stan pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, "That's not the- well, that's only part of the problem. I mean, he's got a kid. He's a dad and he's a damn good dad and he really likes kids and I'm really bad with kids and-"

"I'm stopping you now." Ford frowned, "You are not bad with kids. You've always been amazing with kids. You took care of Shermie for entire weekends back home, you took care of Mabel and Dipper in a town where things wanted to kill them, you protected from a guy who hadn't learned how to actually care about other people until you taught him.... You punched zombies in the faces to protect those kids! You are as incredible with kids and I will not stand for you saying otherwise."

Stan stared at Ford in shock, "Wow. Jeez, I.... Okay. Sorry. I won't.... Jeez, Sixer. I haven't heard you actually compliment me without sarcasm in years."

Ford rolled his eyes, "Your face still makes babies cry."

"We have the same face, stupid."


	6. Fire, Coffee, Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad memories and a reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry some of these are so short, guys. I'm hurrying to get them done. I'll try to make some of them longer.

Shermie watched in confusion as Mabel and Dipper carried a rather beautiful tapestry out of Stan's trunk, looking absolutely terrified. One of their friends, a pretty blonde girl, looked irritated as she directed them towards the back yard where Stan, Ford, and Fiddleford were waiting.

He followed them and found his older brothers piling wood in a circle, trying to find the driest wood they could. Mabel's other two friends and the two employees of Stan's were helping their best, finding papers and other such things to throw onto the pile.

Stan drenched the whole thing in lighter fluid and lit it up, sending flames reaching high into the air. Ford quickly took the tapestry from the kids and unfolded it, proving Shermie's belief that it was rather old and rather beautifully made, if a little unsettling. Everyone averted their eyes from the fabric, though, and Ford tossed it onto the pyre.

"Burn you _vile_ , disgusting, evil thing!" Mabel shouted at the flames, looking like she was about to cry.

Stan allowed Fiddleford to all but climb onto his back to comfort him, rubbing his back soothingly and doing as many one-word signs as he could to swear towards the fire as he could. Shermie was actually surprised at the creativity of some of the things his brother signed.

The three girls all clung close to one another, with the employees behind them ready to give comfort if necessary.

He didn't understand a lick of what was going on, so he decided to go inside to let those who did deal with their burdens.

He sat alone in the sitting room, glancing over a book he had brought with him. After a few pages of not knowing exactly what he just read, he closed the book again and put it away. He wandered into the kitchen and looked around. Generic meat in a can, Spaghettios, stew in a can.... Lots of cans. Most of the kitchen was non-perishables, actually, except a few items such as pancake mixes and milk. He shuffled through the pantry and smiled.

He had an idea. 

* * *

 

Stan and Ford noticed Shermie go inside. How couldn't they? There were watching everything around them to make sure the Northwest's Bill tapestry hadn't brought forth any unpleasant presences.

As the tapestry burned, everyone kept a close eye on it, making certain every single fiber was singed to ashes. The fire kept them all warm and the company kept them from being afraid.

They weren't sure how long they had been outside, standing around the pyre.

Eventually Shermie returned, his hands and arms full of mismatched mugs, each steaming. He wandered around, passing coffee and hot chocolate to everyone. Each time he stopped to ask if the person needed anything.

"A warm blanket, some mittens, a hug?"

Everyone took him up on the hug.

When he finally got to Fiddleford and his brothers, Wendy and Soos had begun ushering the kids inside.

"So.... May I ask?" He gestured toward the dying flames.

"It had the image of a demon that tried to destroy us all and take the entirety of humanity down with his terror and madness on it. This demon can see into this world from pictures of him, so we decided that all images of him needed to be burned." Fiddleford stated plainly.

"Ah." Shermie nodded, "Was that the apocalypse you fought off?"

Ford nodded, "Bill almost succeeded spreading his madness over the world. If it wasn't for Mabel and Dipper...." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm starting to think there's nothing those two can't do." Fiddleford chuckled.

"I know for certain that's a fact." Stan chuckled, "Mabel got me over my fear of heights.... albeit in a painful and terrifying way."

Ford laughed, "Yeah, those kids are something else. Dipper single-handedly took down an alien transport ship using only a magnet gun."

"They went up against a group of mad cultists hell bent on erasing the minds of everyone in town." Fiddleford chuckled quietly, "Those kids really are amazing."

They all stood together, watching the flames die down under the fall of snow.

"You guys head inside." Stan told them, "I'll put the fire out."

Ford and Shermie agreed and headed back in, but Fiddleford refused, clinging to Stan's free arm like it was his only lifeline.

"You okay?"

Fiddleford shrugged and continued sipping his coffee. The pair stood out in the cold for a while longer as the last of the flames were doused by the snow before Stan prompted Fiddleford to let go so he could make sure it was dead. He kicked around the ashes, finding them all gone and no trace of the tapestry, and returned to give Fiddleford his arm again.

He grasped onto Stan's arm and intertwined their fingers, making Stan's heart thump loudly and his face flush. He quickly hid his face in his coffee and guided them both towards the porch.

"Stanley?"

"Mm-hm?"

Fiddleford paused a moment and looked up at him, "Thank you.... for everything. I really can't say how much what you and your family has done for me means to me." He smiled and squeezed Stan's hand.

Oh, this was pathetic. This was so hopelessly sad. He was completely and totally enchanted by this man.

Fiddleford prayed Stan wasn't aware of just how madly in love with him he was.


	7. Presents, Happiness, Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise from Pacifica and Stan admits something.

Pacifica was back again. She'd left the night before after watching the Pines light the Menorah and say their blessings for the second night with a promise to return in the morning.

And return she did. A long limousine drove into the Shack's driveway and she hurried out of the passenger seat to meet Mabel with a big hug.

"Why the huge car?" Mabel asked.

Pacifica smiled, "I needed something big enough to carry all of your gifts, sweetie!" She waved to the car and out came a couple of servants, dressed all in cute winter outfits, who opened the back doors of the car, revealing beautifully wrapped gifts.

Mabel squealed, bringing the attention of everyone inside outside. Mabel hurried to help the servants carry everything inside and sorted them out by recipient.

Once everything was inside, Pacifica told the two servants to go spend a day for themselves. The pair looked excited and thanked her before hurrying back out to the car.

Everyone gathered in the sitting room, sitting around the mountains of presents.

"Well, I figured since I won't be here every day for your Chrismukkah celebrations, I'd give you your gifts all at once to make sure you love them." She grinned, "Don't be afraid to tell me if you don't like something! I can always send things back and get a new gift." Pacifica picked out specific gifts from everyone's pile, passing them out, "Okay, open!" She grinned, excited.

Torn paper went everywhere.

"Oh my gosh, Pacifica!" Mabel squealed, pulling out the extremely expensive sewing machine that was her present, "It's wonderful!"

"I had it specifically made for you, Mabel. It's got your name across it." She smiled, "I know you'll get a lot of use out of it, too."

Fiddleford pulled the series of books from the box in his lap and read the titles, "Memory journals?"

Pacifica nodded, "You can write down what you remember so that if you forget it, you can just go back and read it again."

"Now just a minute here," Shermie pulled out a large scrapbook from his box, "What on Earth is this?"

"A copy of Mabel's scrapbook from this summer." She told him, "Memories of when your grandchildren saved the world. I wasn't sure what all to get you, Sir, I'm sorry, so that's the only present I have for you."

He smiled and started looking through, "This is beautiful, miss. Thank you."

Stan's present wasn't in a box. He pulled it out of the wrapping, confused until he unfolded it a couple of times.

"Oh." He smiled and pulled the tan sash over his head. On it was the word HERO in sloppy hand-stitching.

"That took me a long time." Pacifica told him, "It's also, like, the only present I can't return or sell."

"I wouldn't want you to anyways." He grinned, "Thanks, kiddo."

Ford and Dipper had similar gifts. They both had two thick hard-cover journals with dark red covers and gold corner-covers.

"That way you two can remake the ones you lost. Together." She emphasized that last one hard, looking Ford dead in the eyes.

Ford grinned and wrapped an arm around Dipper's shoulders, "Well, I guess we can use that symbol your sister made now."

The present opening continued in a similar manner. Shermie hurried off and got a camera to take pictures of everyone with their gifts. Once they were through all of them, Pacifica insisted she clean up the paper and boxes and everyone enjoy their gifts.

This, of course, meant Mabel immediately ran to the attic to get all her fabrics and thread to play with her new sewing machine.

Ford and Dipper grabbed their matching journals and the personalized pens they'd been given and started writing out "Property Of:" pages.

Stan started showing Shermie how to box with his new boxing gloves- personalized, of course- not once moving to take off his sash, while Fiddleford used his new video camera to record the whole scene.

Pacifica had no shame in patting herself on the back. After all, every single one of her presents was well received.

* * *

 

Fiddleford was cuddled up against Stan on his chair, watching shitty Christmas movies that completely erased other religions and holidays when Ford found them.

"Cozy?" He asked and chuckled, "I swear, with how hard it is to separate you two, you'd think you were dating."

Fiddleford blushed and hid his face in Stan's shoulder, giving Ford time t sign. A finger at his chin, then away from him.

_Tell him._

Stan adjusted his hands and signed back, a dramatic movement to touch his fingertips of one hand to the knuckles of his other, and then pointing to his own chest.

_Bite me._

Ford rolled his eyes, "The kids and I are going to take Shermie to see the Christmas movies that are playing at the theater. Want to come?"

Stan looked down at Fiddleford, who looked up at him.

"We have a quantity of Christmas movies here." Stan told him.

"Yeah, the Dollar Store version." Ford rolled his eyes, "I'm catching up on all the cinematography I missed. I want to see that live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas and you can literally fight me if you want to stop me."

Stan rolled his eyes, "Knock yourself out. You want to go, Fids?"

Fiddleford shook his head, "I'm comfortable."

"Alright, then." Ford shrugged, "Have fun, you two."

And then it hit Stan.

They were going to be alone.

In the Shack.

Just him and Fiddleford.

For hours.

"Stanley, are you quit feelin' alright?" Fiddleford asked, "You're not catchin' a cold, are you?"

Stan looked down, "I, uh, I hope not. Maybe I should lie down just to make sure."

"I'll get you a tall glass of water, okay?" Fiddleford scooted out of his lap and helped him up from the chair.

Stan shuffled on to his bedroom, waving goodbye to the kids as he passed, and flipped face-first into the pillows.

Oh, fuck, look at what he'd done now.

Now Fiddleford was concerned for him and wanted to take care of him. Which meant close proximity and nurturing.

Which he wouldn't be object to if his mouth didn't go dry and his hands didn't get clammy every time Fiddleford smiled at him. Maybe if the man wasn't so damn cute, Stan could actually talk to him about feelings and dating and stuff.

But no.

Fiddleford had to be adorable as hell.

Said adorable slowly opened the door and hurried over to Stan's side, where he chuckled and set down the glass of what he'd retrieved.

"You sleep like that and you're going to suffocate."

Stan grumbled quietly and rolled onto his back.

"Now, now, don't get huffy with me. I ain't the reason you're not feeling well." Fiddleford chuckled, "Now sit up and drink your water."

Stan sighed and did as he was told, but when he handed the cup back, he signed.

Fiddleford stared at the hand in front of him, a bit startled. It looked like Stan was trying to be Spider-Man, but his thumb was out.

"Is.... Is this sign language?" Fiddleford asked, "I don't know sign like you and your brothers. What does it mean?"

Stan let his hand fall and groaned, covering his face with his hands and falling back onto the bed.

"Oh." Fiddleford frowned, "Well, I, uh.... I guess I'll let you sleep."

He left and the door closed, leaving Stan in darkness. He looked at his hand and made the sign again.

That was a dumb idea.

Trying to sign I love you instead of just saying it.

Stan huffed. Well, this was as good a time as any to take a nap.

* * *

 

Ford, Shermie, and the kids didn't get back until late. Dipper, Mabel, and Pacifica all went to get the candles for that night's Hanukkah blessing while Shermie went to get the lighter. Ford checked the sitting room and found it empty.

"Stan and Fids are probably napping." He rolled his eyes, "Old men." He made his way to Stan's room and knocked on the door. Without a response, he carefully opened the door and crept inside.

Stan was sprawled out, dead to the world, and Fiddleford was curled up against him. The only difference from usual was Fiddleford was over the blanket, as if he had come in a lot later to rest.

Ford gently woke Fiddleford, who smiled sleepily up at him, "Heya, Stanford."

"We're going to light the menorah." Ford told him, "Want to join?"

He nodded, "Yes, of course! Oh, be careful waking your brother. I think he might be getting ill. His face was all red and hot and he was spacing out. Don't think he even noticed me touching his forehead when I checked his temperature." He pulled himself off of the bed and yawned, "And he was bein' all confusin', grumblin' and groanin' and makin' signs at me that I didn't understand."

Ford paused, "What kind of signs?"

"Well, just one sign, actually." Fiddleford copied it for Ford.

Ford smiled, "Well, I'll talk to him about it. Go on to the kitchen, I'll wake up Stan."

Fiddleford smiled and wandered off.

Ford counted to ten before taking three steps back and leaping into the bed, scaring the shit out of Stan.

"Jesus Christ on a cracker! Ford, what the fu- fudge."

"You tried telling Fiddleford." Ford grinned.

"What?"

"He told me. He told me you signed to him. You signed 'I love you' to him."

Stan stared at him for a minute before it hit him, "What- no- no I didn't! Shut up!"

Ford laughed, "Don't lie to me, Stanley!"

"I hate you!"

"You're still lying!"

Stan groaned, "Fine! Yes, I tried. I want to tell him. I'd love to tell him. I'd love to tell him how I feel and how happy just being around him makes me. And I tried to tell him but he didn't understand. So now I have to actually vocally tell him that I...." He groaned again and covered his face.

"Hey, Lee...." Ford adjusted to sit next to Stan, "It's okay, bro. You can do this, but I think there's something you need to do first."

"What?"

"You need to actually admit it. Say it, out loud, right here. No questioning it, no uncertainty, nothing. Say it." Ford prompted.

Stan hesitated and wrung his hands for a minute before Ford pushed him a bit, "Fine, fine." He sighed and took a breath, "I'm in love with Fiddleford McGucket." He paused and looked at Ford and chuckled, "I'm crazy in love with him.... That actually feels liberating."

"See?" Ford grinned, "Now get up. We're lighting the menorah."


	8. Cookies, Light, hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitchen madness, a bet, and an apology

Mabel was baking.

Mabel was baking and that meant two things.

One: no one but Dipper (who was voluntold to be Mabel's assistant) was allowed in the kitchen.

Two: everyone in a two mile radius tasted sugar.

Stan was sent on three different ingredient runs. He was starting to run out of stores to rob and smoke screens. He was also running out of energy, chugging down water bottles no matter how many he was handed.

That meant he was either heading out to buy/steal things, drinking water, or in the bathroom whenever he was at the Shack.

Which left Ford, Fiddleford, and Shermie to their own devices. Luckily for the brothers, they were fluent in sign, so they could talk over the destructive noises coming from the kitchen. Fiddleford had tried reading something and even writing down in his memory journal, but he couldn't think straight with the noise, so he scooted over to Ford and leaned in so he could hear him.

"Can you teach me sign?"

Ford paused and smiled, immediately signing Fiddleford's request to Shermie, who also got excited.

And so began Fiddleford's first of many lessons. They started by just teaching him some basic signs, pointing at things and showing the sign for it, including the signs they had made for themselves.

Stanford was the sign for F on one hand and the other flat, moving the signed hand like opening a book.

Stanley was an L on both hands in the sign for boxing.

Shermie was the sign for little, followed by an S.

Mabel was the sign for bright, but starting with the sign for M on both hands at the beginning of the motion.

Dipper was the letter D while signing the word smart.

Then they worked to find a sign for Fiddleford. At first they tried something with the sign for memory, but scrapped that. Then, Ford had an idea and did the sign for F with both hands, and signed the word beard with them.

Fiddleford loved it.

Ford showed Stan as soon as he got back from his fourth trip, which made him laugh. He adjusted his hands to give Fiddleford a thumbs-up.

The engineer quickly signed a simple phrase.

_Thank you, Stanley._

Stan's face split in half with his enormous grin. He hurried off to deliver Mabel her supplies before coming back to sign quickly to his twin. Ford and Stan had a quick conversation that went by way to quickly for Fiddleford to hope to decipher.

_What all have you taught him?_

Ford rolled his eyes, _Before you panic, no, I didn't teach him I love you. We're just doing basics now. Names, words, greetings, et cetera._

Stan gave a breath of relief, _Thanks._

_But it's your job to tell him._

_I figured you would say that._

Stan waved to Shermie and Fiddleford, waving them over. They came over and then followed him outside, where the eternal noise was muffled.

"Why didn't we just come outside to talk?" Fiddleford asked.

Stan chuckled, "Well, Ford's used to excessively loud noises and Shermie's hard of hearing, so they probably didn't realize just how loud it was."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Fiddleford looked at the youngest Pines, then to the twins, "Is that why you learned to sign?"

"It seemed like a cool secret code at the time." Ford laughed, "Lee and I learned as much as we could together."

"It's also a really good thing for a résumé." Stan added, "Why'd you want to learn?"

Fiddleford smiled sheepishly, "Well, I remember when I lived and worked with Stanford, when he got intense about something, he'd sign as he talked. I wanted to learn about it then, but I never asked. It wasn't until now I remembered and decided to ask before I forgot again."

"An easy way to help you learn is to sign words you know when you say them." Stan said, demonstrating by signing out the sentence as he spoke.

Fiddleford nodded, "Okay."

"GRUNKLE STAN!"

Stan's smile fell and he opened the door, "I AM NOT DOING ANY MORE RUNS."

"I SET SOMETHING ON FIRE!"

* * *

 

Luckily the fire was small, so putting it out was easy. Stan refused to leave the kitchen after that, though. He helped Mabel and Dipper finish rolling dough, transferring things in and out of the oven, and with clean up. By the time the last batch of goodies was in the oven, Ford and Shermie had gone over how ASL grammar works and taught him some basic phrases.

"So why is my home being overrun with baked goodies?" Stan asked Mabel as he set a bunch of cookies on a cooling rack.

"For the festival Mayor Tyler told us about." Dipper answer for her, "You know? The one he said has been a tradition for a century?"

"Yes, because I know exactly what you're talking about and don't just think of it as an influx of idiots to buy my stuff."

Mabel shook her head, "It's a big fireworks display! And Mayor Tyler told Dipper and I we can have a booth of our own to sell stuff! So I'm baking stuff and we're going to bring a bunch of yarn to make sweaters!"

"Hey, now. I need employees for the rush of tourists."

"We'll split our profits with you." Mabel offered, "Seventy-thirty so Dipper and I can use most of it for presents."

"Deal, and I get to eat a cookie for free."

Dipper rolled his eyes and started putting the cooled goodies in tupperware, "Fine, but not the iced ones."

Stan swiped a sugar cookie and shoved it into his mouth. He paused and looked at Mabel with wide eyes, "This is really good."

"Of course." She scoffed and helped Dipper pack up their goodies, "I made them with my bro-bro."

Stan paused, "Was that a challenge?"

Mabel smiled, "Of course not, Grunkle Stan. I'm simply stating that if you and Great Uncle Ford were forced to do anything together you'd probably kill each other in the process, that's all."

Stan frowned, "Oh, really?"

"Really."

"You wanna bet?"

"You know it."

Stan went to the sitting room, "Sixer, c'mere a minute."

Ford stood, worried, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing bad, just our honor is being challenged."

Ford rolled his eyes and followed Stan back to the kitchen.

"So how are we being challenged?" Ford asked, leaning against the doorway.

"It's simple. You two collaborate on something and not try to kill one another or destroy anything, which is impossible," Mabel chuckled, "And you'll win."

"And if we do?" Ford asked.

Dipper smiled, "Mabel and I will switch wardrobes for three days."

"Entire wardrobe? Not just 'oh, we'll switch headwear and call it good'?" Stan questioned.

"Complete wardrobe switch." Mabel promised, "Dorky outfits and all."

"Except shoes. We have different shoe sizes." Dipper added.

Mabel paused, "You could probably fit in my fluffy boots."

Dipper smiled, "I can and they are super comfy."

Stan chuckled, "Alright. And if we lose?"

Dipper grinned, "Mabel gets to decorate the journal covers," Ford felt a chill run down his back at the thought of all that glitter, "And we get to implement a special plan we've been working on."

"What plan?" Ford asked.

Mabel grinned, "We call it: Project FiddleStan! It's our fool proof way to get Stan a date with Mister McGucket!"

All the blood drained from Stan's face.

"Wh-what? Why would I want to- how did- did you- Sixer, how- how did you figure out- I can get a date with him on my own, thank you!" He huffed and crossed his arms.

"Yes, and Mabel is actually next in line to be the Fairy Queen." Dipper rolled his eyes.

Stan frowned, "You know what? I'm in. Just to see the looks on your faces when you lose."

Ford sighed, "Fine, fine. You have a bet. I'll help Lee in the Shack tonight selling his touristy-crap. And Dipper?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope you like pink."

* * *

 

 

Fiddleford was made the judge for Stan and Ford while Mabel and Dipper were out at the festival with Shermie. He worked the cash register while keeping an eye on the twins.

Stan had dressed Ford up in a Mister Mystery costume and fez. Honestly, it was hard to tell the pair apart when they dressed alike. If it wasn't for their glasses and Ford's hair, they'd be indiscernible.

Before the rush, Stan went over all the attractions and gags in the museum.

And when Ford said these things were all cheap frauds, Stan explained the last bet he had with the kids and the Gremoblin incident, and Ford agreed not to mention any real supernatural creatures.

Tourists started flooding in, paying obscene amounts of money to see what the Mystery Shack had to offer. Ford was genuinely shocked at how many people bought tickets to tours of the woods and the museum. Lots of people asked about Weirdmageddon, and the twins only ever gave a watered-down version of the story before moving on to the next exhibit.

With Ford to help, Stan was able to take people out into the woods in the golf carts more, which brought in a lot more money because people typically bought jackets and hats before the woods tours. Ford cycled through the museum more times that he could count and ignored more comments about his fingers than he'd ever experienced in this dimension.

Fiddleford wasn't sure if this counted as working together. The pair was split up most of the time, allowed to do their own thing and not working in close quarters, but with the rushes of people to pay for goodies, he didn't have time to voice this concern. Ford ended up having to close museum tours for a while to help re-stock the gift shop a couple of times.

Apparently the confusion over the rock-that-looks-like-a-face rock wasn't just a thing that happened to Stan.

"It's just a rock that looks like a face! It's not a face, there are no rock monsters in Gravity Falls with faces like this!"

After a few hours the rush started to die and Stan was back working in the museum with his brother.

And then Fiddleford got to see them work together.

They made double jokes, did the fake mirror trick, and even went through entire tours in unison both vocally and physically.

Fiddleford was astonished. He legitimately didn't believe they could pull it off. With how often they argued and bickered, he expected at least one minor confrontation, but they seemed to be genuinely getting along and enjoying themselves.

For crying out loud, in the off moments of emptiness, they even discussed different ways to present things and came up with new tricks for the fake mirror gag.

Fiddleford hoped Mabel hadn't packed many skirts or Dipper's poor legs were going to freeze when he wore them.

* * *

 

Not once.

Not once did they bicker, gripe, or argue.

"Why the hell can't you be this friendly to each other on a normal basis?" Fiddleford questioned.

"Because his face annoys me." They said in tandem and laughed.

"This is startin' to get scary." Fiddleford groaned and rubbed his eyes, "When are the kids gettin' home? You two have definitely won your silly little bet."

Ford chuckled, "I'll flip the signs to closed, okay?"

"Turn off the lights around the sign outside, too." Stan prompted, "I'll count our profits."

Ford wandered off to do his job and Stan hopped onto the counter and opened the register, pulling everything out to start counting.

"So, what would've happened if you lost?"

"Hm?" Stan looked down at Fiddleford.

"What did you wager? What would've happened if you and Stanford fought?"

Stan paused, "Oh, Mabel would get to decorate the covers for Ford and Dipper's new journals."

"Oh, dear," he chuckled, "I supposed Stanford dodged a bullet. But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Was that your only incentive? The only punishment for losing?"

"Well, uh.... Yes. Yes, it was."

"Are you lyin' to me, Stanley Pines?" Fiddleford stood and leaned over the counter, "I don't take kindly to being lied to."

"It's my story and I'm sticking to it."

"Uh-huh.... Well, I suppose I'll just have to ask Dipper and Mabel."

"Wait, no!" Stan swore when a few bill jumped out of his hands onto the floor and got off the counter to retrieve them, "It.... They were going to reveal a secret of mine. Something embarrassing that I do not want spread around."

"Oh, really?"

Stan nodded, "Well, it's not that awful.... I'm just not ready to talk about it...." He hopped onto the counter again and refused to talk about it any further.

Fiddleford sighed and got up, "I'll go check inventory and clean up a bit."

Stan watched him leave and waited until he was out of sight before setting down the pile of cash and hit himself repeatedly in the head. "Dumb, dumb, stupid, fuck!" He groaned, "Don't make the guy you're crushing on hate you by being a dick to him. Bad, dumb, stupid Stan." He begrudgingly continued counting his profits, definitely not pouting to himself.

And he was definitely not still pouring when Ford finally came back in.

Which is why Ford had no idea to ask Stan what he did wrong.

"What did you do?"

"I was stupid and accidentally got Fids upset with me."

Ford sighed, "What?"

"I kinda snapped at him and was rude."

"Nice one, genius." Ford chuckled, "Just go apologize. He's a sappy, sentimental guy. He'll eat that right up if you actually do it right."

Stan sighed, "I just...."

"No excuses. Go to him. Apologize. You might even get a reward from him if he like it."

Stan paused, "O-Okay.... Yeah. Okay." He took a breath and headed to the museum where Fiddleford was slowly picking up trash and tossing it in a bag. Stan but his lip, trying to think of words, "Hey, Fids?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin and looked over to Stan, "Oh! Oh, hello Stanley."

"Look, about earlier.... I'm sorry. It was rude of me to snap at you like that and I totally get it if you think I'm a dick."

Fiddleford stared up at him and smiled, "Oh, Stanley. I wasn't mad at you. I thought you were angry with me for pushing!" He chuckled.

Stan laughed, "Well this was a big misunderstanding then."

Fiddleford walked over and wrapped his arms around Stan's middle in a hug, "All is forgiven."

Stan's huge smile and goofy-lovestruck expression told everyone around that the forgiveness was mutual, but he returned the hug just to be sure.


	9. Sweaters, Kiss, Flurries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A kiss is shared and a relationship begins.

Dipper came down the stairs first, dressed in Mabel's signature pink shooting star sweater, purple pants, and the fuzzy boots they had talked about the previous day. To make it even better, he even had her purple headband in his hair.

Mabel had on one of her brother's many science-joke shirts, this one being a snowflake shape made up of the chemical bonds of water, and his pine tree jacket. She also had on a pair of his black pants, but his footwear was too big for her feet so she had on a pair of her own socks and shoes. She also had his pine tree hat on her head.

"You two look adorable." Stan grinned.

Mabel grinned, "Wanna see my impression of Dipper? I'm Dipper and I like math and weird stuff and can't be bothered with normal things like eating and sleeping!"

Dipper rolled his eyes, "I'm Mabel. Does anyone have any glitter? I will literally eat glitter."

Ford chuckled, "Don't hassle each other. Eat your breakfast."

Fiddleford grinned, "I made it! It's eggs and bacon!"

Mabel grinned, "Ooh! Fiddlefood!"

Shermie smiled, "So what do we have planned for today?"

"Why don't we stay home?" Ford offered, "Let Mabel and Dipper invite some friends over and just have a relaxing day."

Dipper smiled, "Sounds like fun!"

Mabel frowned, "I wonder if Pacifica will think I look dorky."

Stan chuckled, "Sounds good to me."

When breakfast was done Dipper and Mabel called their friends to invite them over. Most of them were doing things with their families, but Pacifica was able to promise to escape in a few hours and Wendy said she was coming by for some extra work hours anyways.

The adults all decided to crowd the sitting room and watch bad movies while the kids played. Mabel and Dipper promised to help Wendy with the Shack and let Stan relax with everyone else. It was a lot day anyways, with the snow coming down in thick flurries that made driving a bit hazardous.

Stan and Fiddleford resumed their position from their previous movie marathon with the smaller man curled up against Stan's chest, both of them trying their best not to be too obvious that they absolutely adored this position and never wanted to leave.

Ford and Shermie got comfortable with pillows and blankets that Dipper and Mabel had brought for them.

It was the most comfortable group of old men you would ever find. Also probably the most adorable with how close they all huddled for warmth and the fact that Fiddleford was wearing Stan's old jacket again and looked like he was falling asleep on his shoulder.

Ford was in charge of picking out and changing movies when the previous one ended. He seemed to really enjoy the cheesy ones like Polar Express and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And with Pacifica's gift of movies (she had been appalled when Mabel showed her just how many crappy movies Stan owned and refused to let her friends live without proper cinematic entertainment) they had a great deal to choose from.

They were there for hours, watching movie after movie, with only a few break for food and the bathroom. Pacifica had shown up a long time ago and the Shack had closed up shortly after that. The kids came in for a bit and watched some movies with them, but Mabel remembered she had made a sweater specifically for Pacifica the day before and hurried off to get it.

Stan, curious, reassured Pacifica she could wait with them. She sat anxiously, excited about her gift.

When Mabel came back she presented the rich girl with a purple sweater with a silver crown sewn on it and PRINCESS OF THE APOCALYPSE written in silver letters across it. Mabel let her see and then turned it over to show her that the Take Back the Falls symbol was seen onto the back, as well.

She squealed and hurried to pull it on over her designer clothes, "Oh my goodness, it's wonderful! Thank you!"

Mabel grinned, "Aw, it was nothing after what you got for us."

"No one’s ever actually made me a present before.... It's always expensive stuff I can't use until I'm older like cars, or even alcohol. This is incredible."

"Oh my gosh, Paz, are you crying?"

She sniffled, "Maybe a little.... I'm just really happy, okay? Plus my allergies are acting up!"

Dipper started chanting something under his breath. Wendy leaned in to hear what he was saying and joined in, making the chant audible.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!"

Stan grinned and chanted with them. This was it, the Winter Romance he wanted for her. He just hoped Pacifica took the bait.

She didn't have the chance. Mabel grabbed her cheeks, squished them, and kissed her right on the lips.

Dipper laughed and gave a shout of excitement.

Pacifica stared at Mabel as if she'd just given her the secret to all lives mysteries. A grin spread across her face and she scooped Mabel into her arms and twirled her around, laughing.

Fiddleford smiled and applauded the scene, "That was absolutely adorable."

"Mabel's got a girlfriend, Mabel's got a girlfriend!" Stan sang.

"I do, I really do!" She giggled and hugged Pacifica tight, "This is the best day of my life!"

"Aw, snap, Dipper. Your sister got a girlfriend before you did!"

"Eh." He shrugged, "I think romance might not be my thing."

"See, I'm not the only one!" Ford laughed, "Oh, let's watch a cute romance-y Christmas movie now for Mabel and Pacifica!"

Pacifica grinned, "It's a Wonderful Life is in there. It'll be in the black and white section." She pulled Mabel back to the group and snuggled close to her, "I like that movie."

Mabel looked like she was going to explode from excitement.

Fiddleford chuckled and adjusted so he could be closer to Stan and still see the screen, "What's the sign for cute?"

Stan smiled and swiped his index and middle fingers against his chin, "Once for cute, twice for extremely cute." He explained and crossed that off his list of words he could use to describe Fiddleford without him knowing.


	10. Ribbon, Laughter, Hope

Wrapping presents was never Stan's thing. He usually put things in bags, had someone else wrap them, or just didn't wrap them at all.

Bows and ribbons, though?

He adored those.

Hell, he even made his own bows with his favorite ribbons!

So when Wendy mentioned a gift wrapping for charity event at the high school during the menorah lighting, Stan nearly jumped out of his seat to say they should go.

Which was how everyone ended up heading to Gravity Falls High School at nine in the morning with bundles of wrapping paper, tape, and entire bags full of ribbon.

To encourage everyone to work hard, the charity had decided to make a little competition out of everything. Everyone would split into groups and try to wrap all their given presents in the most efficient and beautiful manner. The table with the most presents wrapped nicely would win a goodie basket of stuff.

Competition only fueled Stan more.

Dipper and Wendy were put on paper measuring duty, laying out all the presents and cutting the paper to the perfect length so none went to waste and the presents would be completely wrapped, which was god for them with Dipper's math skills and Wendy's ability to cut anything she wanted exactly how she wanted.

Mabel and Shermie were on gift-wrapping duty. Mabel's artistic skill and Shermie's grandpa status made them the perfect candidate. Fiddleford was given the simple task of getting strips of tape for either of them however long they needed.

Stan had all his ribbons lined up, ready to tie up and cover any unsightly bits with ribbon and on-the-spot made bows. He had Ford with him, using his hands to hold things down and his science knowledge to stack the finish gifts ok the floor behind them without damaging anything or hiding a gift.

You'd think they'd rehearsed it.

Wendy and Dipper worked like the perfect duo they were, Dipper marking out where Wendy should cut with a highlighter and quickly moving on to find a present to fit in any remaining places. If any wrapping paper was unused, it was sent to Ford and Stan who could use it as ribbon/bows or repair any accidental tears.

Shermie was a bit slower at wrapping than Mabel was, but his job was no less beautiful. Both used scissors to cut away any pieces of paper that wasn't aesthetically pleasing or made the gift too bulky looking.

Fiddleford got faster with the tape the longer they went, measuring out the folds Mabel and Shermie made just by looking and getting strips of tape long enough for their needs. He also served as an extra pair of hands if paper was being uncooperative and not holding as tightly as they needed.

Stan did nothing while the first gifts were being measured and wrapped but make bows. He had no shame in stealing Ford's fingers to hold down ribbon while he folded and had at least twelve of them done before the first present got to him.

They were loud, too, constantly talking to each other, relaying any details that could help them. Dipper told Wendy exactly when he was finished, Wendy told Shermie or Mabel what paper went to what gift, Shermie and Mabel told Fiddleford what length tape they needed. They also told Stan and Ford what errors needed to be covered on any gifts. Stan told Ford when gifts were done and shouted to Dipper and Wendy if they needed any paper for cover ups.

Ford decided to take the table next to them to display their finished gifts, stacking them neatly in an organized manner, short ones in the front, tall ones in the back, alternating patterns so none of them could blend together and get a point taken from them.

This was a needless precaution. They finished their group of gifts just as the time ran out. Ford taped the last bow to the top of the final gift and placed it on the table where it belonged.

Mabel, Shermie, and Wendy all did hand stretches to get the craps out of them.

Dipper and Fiddleford started cleaning up the paper scraps.

Ford and Stan made more bows as they waited for a judge to come look at their gifts, just much slower this time, and not as grandiose.

Their judge was a sweet old woman with a smile that could melt your heart. When she saw that they'd made their own bows and completed all of their presents, she gasped.

"My goodness! How lovely!" She giggled, "I don't suppose I could ask you for any of those gorgeous bows for my grandchildren's presents, could I? Look at this one!" She touched the enormous green bow on top of the largest present, "Absolutely beautiful."

Stan smiled, "Here. Take these." He scoops up the bows he and Ford had just made, plus the few extra from the rush, into one of the plastic bags they'd brought the tape and ribbons in, "No charge."

She gasped, "Oh my! Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I got tons more ribbon at home I could make bows with. Just stop by the Mystery Shack some time and take the tour, okay?" He grinned.

"Stan." Ford jabbed him with his elbow and did a funny motion with his hands, like someone telling a crappy ghost story and going 'Ooooh~', finger wiggles and all.

Stan frowned and shook his head, doing the same weird finger wiggle, but this time near his head. He turned back to the woman and smiled, "Sorry, my brother's just confused about something. I could make different bows if those don't work with your wrapping paper."

She grinned, "Oh, that would be wonderful. I'm using silver and gold this year for my Christmas colors. Last year it was all rainbows because the kids got to choose." She chuckled.

The pair chatted on until the judges were called back to the front of the auditorium to discuss.

Fiddleford sat down next to Stan, "She was nice, wasn't she?"

Stan smiled, "Yeah."

"It's not often you see women our age unmarried." He continued.

"She was?"

He nodded, "Didn't have a ring on. And with the way she was flirting with you, I'd reckon it's been a while since she was married."

Stan scoffed, "Flirting? With me?"

"Dude, she was so into you." Wendy laughed.

"Well, how long's it been since our Stanley's been in the dating game?" Shermie laughed.

"I dated two women over the summer. One of them I ran away from screaming and the other ended up being a giant spider that wanted to suck out all my blood and chew on my dry corpse." Stan answered, "I don't think I should really be dating women right n-"

"Nonsense!" Shermie waved him off, "She's a beautiful girl! You should ask her out!"

Fiddleford smiled, "How bad could it be, Stanley?"

Stan looked to the kids for help. Mabel and Dipper shared looks, but gave him sad looks. All objections they had, Stan had already used.

"I.... I...." The look of terror on Stan's face reminded Mabel of when she tricked him into coming up onto the water tower over the summer.

Stan did not feel like a winner when they were declared the winning table.

* * *

 

It turned out; Stan didn't have to ask the woman for a date.

She asked him.

And with Shermie there, pushing him to accept, how could he have said no?

She told him she would come by the Mystery Shack later so they could have their date and left them to pack up and leave.

Ford drove the car home. Luckily, Shermie and Fiddleford rode in Shermie's car while Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel all piled into Stan's car.

Stan sat in the passenger seat, eyes still wide with fear and sitting ramrod straight.

"Are you okay, Mister Pines?" Wendy asked, leaning forward.

Mabel sighed, "Stan's really bad at emotional stuff. He just got bullied into going on a date with a girl he's not interested in."

"Not to mention he's also in love with someone else." Dipper added.

Wendy paused, "What? Since when? Who?"

"Fiddleford." Ford answered, "Stanley's in love with Fiddleford, which is why it was impossible for him to try to pull his way out of it. He's a sap and can't say no to him."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Mister Pines." Wendy looked around as if she could find an answer there in the car, "There's gotta be something we can do to help!"

"Shermie is dead set on Stan dating this woman. What was her name?"

"Marsha." Mabel provided.

"Yeah." Ford sighed, "He won't give up until they either get married or something significant enough happens for him to think they should break up."

"Or one of us dies." Stan mumbled.

"No. You are not killing yourself again." Ford gently batted his brother on the shoulder, "No."

"I can't get out of this." He buried his face in his hands, "There's nothing wrong with her! She was nice and laughed at my jokes and she was cute and she thought owning a tourist trap was a good idea? Nobody mention we stopped the apocalypse. Nobody."

Wendy sighed, "Look: every girl has a fatal flaw. Something that she hides on the first dates that'll make or break a relationship. For me it's my family, for Tambry it's her phone games, there has to be something."

"What phone games does Tambry have?" Dipper questioned.

"The cute, stereotypical girl ones." Wendy told him, "She showed me and I'm, like, super tempted to get them. Back on track, there has to be something. Maybe she's got a criminal record or she's alcoholic or she was in porn-"

"Well, I don't know about that last one," Mabel chimed, "But Grunkle Stan's a criminal, was legally dead for thirty years, and illegally smuggles pugs."

"You don't know what that last one in." Stan told her.

"Yeah, Grunkle Stan! You have to be the kind of guy no girl wants." Dipper told him, "You need to tell her about all your crimes and about the jail time you've had and all your flaws. That way Grandpa can't say anything when she doesn't want a second date!"

Stan paused, "That.... might actually work." He smiled, "Yeah! Yeah, that could work!"

* * *

 

Stan didn't bother changing out of his suit in anticipation for his date. He was actually excited to completely ruin his reputation with this woman. He spent a good amount of time in the mirror practicing lines he could use to Segway talking about his flaws.

Which made Fiddleford decide this was a good time to hide under Stan's bed with a thin blanket pulled around him.

What had he done?

He'd encouraged the man he was head over heels for to go on a date with someone else.

What had he done?

He'd watched Stan go from terrified of the idea of talking to a woman romantically to walking around the Shack with a spring in his step.

What had he done?

He'd felt an urge he hadn't in years, an urge to forget, an urge to erase the memory of pain from his mind so he could stop hurting so much.

He didn't wish Stan luck on his date when Marsha arrived.

He didn't bother waiting for dinner to be done before crawling into the bed he'd shared with the man he was crazy about for the past few nights.

Instead, he clung to sheets and pillows that reeked of Stan's soap and aftershave, trying to pretend it was him, and fell asleep.

* * *

 

Stan took Marsha to a fast food place. He went on and on about how he saved money by avoiding food that cost more than a dollar fifty and tax evasion. He rambled about illegal acts that got him cash and his counterfeit money that he got himself, Mabel, and Dipper a night in prison for.

And she laughed.

She laughed as though he were the funniest man alive.

So he told her about destroying his brother's future, his life of crime, sending his brother into another dimension, and then killing himself.

And she sympathized.

He told her that he heard his father had died and threw a party.

And she didn't storm out.

What the hell was this woman?

He refused to let her talk about herself, always interrupting and being as rude as possible. He ate sloppily and made a mess. He swore every other word and tried his damnedest to be disgusting.

And yet she still didn't leave.

* * *

 

Ford gently shook Fiddleford awake, concerned and afraid for his friend after his disappearance.

"We made dinner." He told him, "Burgers and hot dogs. Are you hungry?"

Fiddleford shook his head and pulled the blankets over his head.

"Fids? What's wrong? Talk to me." He sat on the bed and gently rubbed his back, "You can trust me, I promise."

"Alright. I'll leave you with your thoughts. Please come eat soon, okay?"

* * *

 

Stan told her about how he abandoned his niece's pet pig despite her pleas for him to save him (and left out the part where he changed his mind). He told her about the terrible advice he gave his nephew about girls (and left out the part where he admitted he was wrong).

He tried everything.

She still laughed and smiled and listened to him talk.

"Alright, lady, what the fuck? Why are you being so damn nice to me?" He demanded.

She smiled, "Because I know you're not like that. You may be telling the stories, but you're not telling the whole truth. Your brother was telling me all about you earlier." She chuckled, "You're a kind, gentle man. You saved the world from those horrible demons and you truly love your family like any true Christian man would."

And then he had her.

"Actually, I'm Jewish."

She smiled, "Oh?"

"Yeah, but I don't really care for the bible." He shrugged, "I mean, it's so hateful. Saying my sweet niece is going to Hell just because she's dating a girl?"

Her smile finally faltered, "What?"

"And not just my Mabel! Ford's completely Ace, and I'm pretty sure Dipper might be, so they can't be "fulfilled" or whatever, and I'm into dudes and chicks, so I'm screwed."

She definitely wasn't smiling anymore.

"To be honest," he continued, "I was absolutely terrified to come on this date with you. See, I'm not really that attracted to you. I have this huge crush on Fiddleford, the cute little hillbilly with the beard? God, he makes my heart flutter."

She looked disgusted.

Stan sighed dreamily and played with his straw, "I mean, it's awful, too. We don't have enough beds in the Shack for everyone, so Fids and I have to share a bed. It's awful cuddling up to the man you love every night and not being able to kiss him, you know? Man, I wish I could kiss him. His beard is so soft and fluffy, too, it'd be great."

She stood up quickly, "I would like to leave."

* * *

 

Stan waltzed into the Shack sporting a bright red cheek and a huge smile.

"She hates me!" He cried in triumph and looked around for everyone.

He found Ford in the gift shop, looking like he was getting ready for bed.

"How'd it g-" Ford paused and winced, "Ouch. Does that hurt?" He pointed at Stan's cheek.

"Yeah. She slapped me." He grinned, "I was so worried. Shermie told her about Weirdmageddon and all that, so she didn't believe anything I told her. It took me a while to realize she's one of those Christian ladies who believes in one man one woman. So I told her Mabel's dating Pacifica and how I think they're super cute together and that you're super into no one and I'm so fucking gay for Fids and she demanded I take her back to her car."

Ford chuckled, "I'm glad you figured it out. Something's wrong with Fids, by the way. Didn't come out for dinner and just went to bed. I don't think he even changed into his pajamas."

Stan's smile fell, "I'll check on him."

"And Lee? Good job."

Stan nodded and headed to the kitchen to find the menorah still burning, the candles almost all out. He made up a plate of food and reheated it, making sure not to move too fast and extinguish the flames. He took the plate to his room and sat down, shaking Fiddleford awake.

"Hey, you." He smiled, "I heard you slept through dinner."

Fiddleford sat up, "Wasn't hungry. How was your date?"

Stan sat the plate on Fiddleford's lap and went to turn on the light, "Not so good."

As soon as the light was on, Fiddleford was hurrying to Stan's side and looking at his cheek, "Goodness! What happened?"

"Turns out she did not like the fact that Mabel and I are pansexual. So she hit me. And left." He chuckled.

Fiddleford frowned and pulled him off to the bathroom, "How on Earth did that come up?"

"We were talking about Mabel and she did kinda get her first girlfriend yesterday." He lied.

"I'm so sorry, Stanley."

"It's okay. I wasn't that into her anyways." He shrugged, "Not really by type."

"Oh, really?" Fiddleford chuckled and put a cold, wet rag over Stan's cheek, "And what is your type?"

You. "Typically, I like someone I can pick up, even carry. She was good with the happy attitude, but I like someone who actually has some trouble in their life. I can't be the only person totally fucked in the head in the relationship."

Fiddleford chuckled.

Holy shit.

Holy fucking shit.

Maybe there was hope after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna say it now: I KNOW NOT ALL CHRISTIANS ARE HOMOPHOBIC. I AM DATING A BISEXUAL CHRISTIAN GIRL. I GET THIS. But I wanted to just have a one-time use character. We probably won't be seeing Martha ever again because she's so against it. Please don't send me hating bullshit.
> 
> Also: those gift wrapping things are real. They get intense, too. People really want those damn Starbucks gift cards and crap that's inside. I just did it for the charity, but damn if the lady at my table didn't tell me to do everything better.


	11. Green, Anticipation, Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Green with envy, Shermie watches in anticipation, and a party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to start this with a big "Thank you!" to MeMyselfandYouTube on Tumblr for being so kind and understanding and responsive to my writings. You're awesome and wonderful.

Shermie insisted Mabel and Dipper hang out with friends despite Mabel's party being that night. He sent them off to go into town with money for arcade games and food.

And with the house devoid of children, Shermie broke out Stan's stash of alcohol.

"Shermie, I really don't need to get drunk." Stan told him.

"After a shit date like that?" Shermie scoffed, "I can't believe we didn't see it. She seemed so nice."

Fiddleford, "You realize this is the largest group of men over fifty-five that isn't homophobic, probably in all of America's history?"

"Bro, seriously." Stan sighed as a glass was placed in front of him, "I don't need to get drunk."

"Nonsense." Shermie opened a can of Pitt and poured it into the glass before adding rum, "There you go. Ford?"

Ford shrugged, "Yeah, why not? I haven't actually had alcohol since I ran into that weird old guy while hopping dimensions."

"Fiddleford?" Shermie asked as he poured Ford a glass.

"Ah, I dunno.... Maybe just a bit."

Shermie poured two more glasses exactly the same way and handed one to Fiddleford.

"To shitty dates." Shermie toasted.

"To not wanting to go in the first place." Stan added.

"I warned you." Ford chuckled.

"I apologize for encouraging it." Fiddleford smiled and immediately chugged the entire glass.

The Pines brothers stared at him.

"Wow, Fids. You sure you don't want just a glass of rum?" Stan chuckled and sipped his drink.

"Oh dear." He paused and looked at his glass, "You boys drink rum with soda? I expected more from Jersey boys."

Ford chuckled, "Fiddleford is from a family of raging alcoholics. I have zero evidence to prove this theory but I refuse to accept it as anything other than truth." He took a large swig of his drink, "Our dorm room was a bar, I swear. He actually got a lot of our food with the money from his damn bar tending job."

Fiddleford blushed, "It's not my fault your parents were terrible and didn't introduce you poor boys to proper alcohol."

As Fiddleford poured himself a glass of rum, Stan chuckled to himself, "Hey, I rarely ever had the chance to buy booze with what little money I had. I needed to save it all for gas and food, so that one's not my fault."

"You could've just gotten a decent job." Ford offered.

"Wow, Sixer, are you already drunk?" Stan scoffed, "You realize who you're talking to, right? My biggest success in life was turning part of your house into a tourist trap."

Fiddleford frowned, "Now that just ain't true. You've had many great successes in your life. You reconstructed Stanford's portal with no help and barely a clue as to what to do, you saved him from being trapped in that alternate whatever forever, you helped raise Dipper and Mabel...."

Shermie chuckled, "Why do none of you want to recognize the fact that you stopped the God damned apocalypse?"

"It was a group effort." Ford shrugged.

Fiddleford smiled and took a gulp of his drink, "Says the idiot who got himself turned into a back scratcher."

Ford flustered and sputtered, "Well-I- I still helped in bringing Bill down!"

"I harbored the only survivors in the Shack and kept them alive, safe, and fed."

"And I saved Stanley's life by stabbing one of the eyebats." Fiddleford smiled.

Ford pouted and tried to hide in his glass, "We're Stanley and Fiddleford and we're so great and like tag teaming on poor Ford."

Stan chuckled, "Oh, you big fucking baby."

Ford immediately signed back, used to censoring himself in front of the kids.

Shermie snickered, "Oh, dear me."

And thus began another round of the Stan Twins Signing Wars. Shermie smiled and explained to Fiddleford, "It's an insult game they came up with back in the day. They have to insult each other with only signs, but the insults have to be more than one word and you can't repeat an insult. Whoever gets flustered or repeats loses and they have to admit they're the lesser twin."

Stan grinned, "Shots!" He stood and hurried to the cabinets, reaching on top of them and pulling down a bunch of shot glasses, "Let's make it fun! A shot after each pair of insults. Loser not only has to admit he's the worse twin, but also has to let Mabel dress him up and be the Santa for her party."

Ford grinned and smacked his hand on the table, "You're on, Stanley."

Shermie announced he would be the officiator and translate the words for Fiddleford while the twins took their shots.

 

Ford lost when after the sixth shot when Stan called him a _stupid asshole with no friends_. He huffed and fumbled over himself, losing the game.

Fiddleford hadn't seen Ford in so much pain as when he said "Stanley, you truly are the superior twin."

On the contrary, he had never seen Stan grin so wide. He had also never seen him as smug as he was when he called up the twins and told Mabel "Your great uncle Ford's volunteered to be Santa for your party, but he needs a costume."

"I don't know if it'll make you feel better, Stanford, but I admire your ability to hold your liquor. Six shots of rum that quick is really impressive."

"I have not drunk in a long time and I can feel it in my stomach." He grumbled and rubbed his face, "Ugh."

Shermie went and grabbed a large plastic cup out of the cupboard and filled it in the sink, handing it to Ford, "Come on. We don't want you getting sick. Drink up."

Fiddleford chuckled, "We should probably all have a bit of water before small children start showing up, because I'm feeling the couple of glasses I've had."

Stan laughed, "Southern alcoholic boy's feeling the rum? What happened to 'I expected more outta Jersey boys'?" He grabbed some more cups and filled them with water despite his words and handed one to Shermie, another to Fiddleford, and kept a last for himself.

 

None of them were completely sober by the time Mabel and Dipper got back. Luckily, Ford's sickly feeling had passed long before Mabel dragged him into the attic to measure out fabric and get an outfit ready.

Shermie offered to help Dipper set up decorations since he was the most sober of all of them.

Stan and Fiddleford sat on the armchair in their usual cuddling position and tried to wait the buzz off. They were a little more handsy than they would've been, Fiddleford wrapping his arms around Stan's neck and Stan slowly rubbing his hand up and down Fiddleford's back underneath his shirt, but they were both too focused on what they were doing to notice the other's actions.

Dipper and Shermie did, though.

And that's when it hit Shermie exactly why his older brother hadn't wanted to date Marsha in the first place.

"Welcome to the Fiddleford and Stan Need to Kiss Club." Dipper told him, "Get ready to see them interact and flirt with each other and still make no progress towards actually talking about feelings."

"But they're sharing a bed...."

"Still no progress."

"And they're always cuddling...."

"Nope."

"Fiddleford is practically necking Stan!"

"I didn't want to know that and it doesn't matter. He won't notice."

And he didn't. Shermie watched the pair cuddle and eventually fall asleep without even once recognizing what was happening.

When they woke up, a few people had shown up for the party, Ford's outfit was done, and the effects of the rum were wearing off.

They also really didn't want to move.

Shermie watched, waiting for one of them to make some sort of romantic move.

But they just sat there, cuddled up and barely awake, exchanging a few words every so often.

Eventually they got up and went to get dressed, but definitely did not take long enough for any smooching to take place.

The pair didn't leave one another alone for a moment, either. They ate together, sat together, and even shared a drink between one another.

Honestly, even Mabel and Pacifica weren't as blatantly in love, and they shared a kiss under the mistletoe!

Ford looked adorable in his Santa outfit. Mabel had given his belly area a good amount of fluffing so he looked like a proper fat Santa. His face was covered by a huge white beard and his hair buried under a big Santa hat.

"I hate you." Ford grumbled when Stan saw him.

"You're the one who agreed to the challenge." Stan reminded him, "Jolly old Saint Nick."

Ford signed an insult that was definitely inappropriate for how many children were in the house.

"Watch your fingers, Santa." Stan swatted at his hands, "That's rude."

Fiddleford actually knew what the next sign Ford used meant. _Eat my ass._

"Santa!" Mabel called out, "The good little children are all waiting to sit on your lap!"

"Santa's coming, dearest Mabel!" Ford called back and signed a last _fuck you_ before leaving to entertain children.

Stan and Fiddleford followed just to hassle him a little bit.

 

To be honest, Stan was envious. He was envious of a couple of thirteen-year-old girls. He watched Mabel and Pacifica giggle and act adorable and romantic in ways he only dreamed he could interact with Fiddleford.

Oh, how badly he wished he could scoop Fiddleford up in his arms and kiss him, or drag him under the mistletoe.

He wished he could run his fingers idly through Fiddleford's thin hair as they talked, just finding comfort in being near.

He wished he could hug him from behind and rub their noses together and surprise him with a kiss on the cheek and everything Mabel and Pacifica did.

He came close a few times to leaning down and kissing the shorter man a few times before he caught himself.

He blamed it on the booze still in his system.


	12. Memories, Snowball Fight, Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford starts a fire, Memories are shared, and twins versus twins

 

 

Everyone was scared awake (why was that happening so much?) by the fire alarm going off, the loud CLANG of the vending machine door being thrown open, and Ford yelling, "IT'S OKAY! DON'T WORRY! STAN, CAN YOU RESET THE ALARM?"

Stan grumbled and wormed his way out of Fiddleford's frightened grip and held his hand for a moment in reassurance before he went to go reset the alarms and call the fire department and tell them it was a false alarm.

"What the hell are you doing, Ford? I swear, if you're cooking again, we need to have a serious talk."

"No, no. It's the same thing I've been trying to do, Stanley. I'm trying to seal away the access between our dimension and Bill's."

"Why did that set off the fire alarm?"

Ford paused, "There may or may not be a little bit of magic involved and I had to burn a piece of paper with a magical incantation that would help me-"

"Yeah, I don't care what it did. A piece of paper?"

"The magic made it bun slow so I could recite an incantation."

Stan groaned, "Oh, I hate you. I hate you so much. I'm going to bed. Don't set off the alarms again. Disconnect the smoke detector down there is you have to."

"I'm a great cook, by the way!"

Stan grumbled as he stumbled off sleepily.

 

Of course, this event came up at breakfast and Ford had to explain himself again.

"Have you tried the spell that sealed away the minor demon you caught that told you about Bill?" Fiddleford offered, "If you could just amplify that, it might work."

"No, that spell was mostly physical. I need a spell that'll hold even without a physical marker."

"Mabel and I can check out the mythology section of the library." Dipper offered, "Most of the books survived the apocalypse."

"And a lot of new ones have been donated, as well." Fiddleford told them.

Ford smiled, "That'd be helpful, thanks."

Mabel grinned, "Yeah! Mystery Twins are on the case! It'll be like investigating the Northwest Conspiracy!"

"That was fun." Dipper smiled, "Back when Pacifica hated us and we thought she was evil."

"And then the whole mini golf thing happened and the hating her part took a wild turn into 'oh no she's hot' and it all went downhill from there."

"Yeah, and then she was nice to me when I exorcised that ghost for her and it just all vanished into thin air."

"And now I can smooch her face!" Mabel exclaimed excitedly.

Dipper gently patted his sister's face, "Yes, Mabel. You can smooch her face."

Shermie smiled, "Smooching is always fun."

"Mine and Dipper's first kisses were with a merman!" Mabel slung her arm around Dipper's shoulders.

Ford smiled, "Really?"

"No, it was not, that was CPR, it does not count as a kiss!" Dipper shoved her arm off of him.

"Eh...." Stan shrugged, "Kinda counts."

"Wait, can we go back to the merman thing?" Ford asked.

"I miss home now." Shermie sighed, "Charlotte's probably still sleeping right now. I want kisses."

Fiddleford chuckled, "I kinda miss being married. It was guaranteed kisses every day."

Ford groaned, "But the merman! Am I the only one vaguely curious about the mer-"

"Jeez.... When was the last time I actually kissed someone?" Stan huffed.

"The day we got here." Mabel stated.

Fiddleford and Stan both paused and blushed.

"Oh, yeah."

Shermie paused, "Wait, wait, wait. Who did you kiss?"

Fiddleford chuckled awkwardly and Stan rubbed the back of his neck.

"Mabel trapped Fids and me under some mistletoe." He shrugged, "Our options were kiss or face a lifetime of Mabel being disappointed in us."

Ford groaned, "Yes, that's all well and good, but the merman?"

Mabel shrugged, "Oh, we freed him and he's getting married to the Manatee Queen to stop a war or something."

"That answered exactly zero of my questions."

"I really don't see the appeal of kissing." Dipper frowned, "I mean, you're just pushing your lips against someone else's. What's the big deal?"

Mabel sighed dreamily, "It's the emotion that goes into it, bro-bro."

Stan chuckled, "Also: showing off. Remember my dance competitions with Carla?"

Shermie laughed, "I swear, you were either dipping, twirling, throwing, or kissing that girl."

Stan grinned, "Yeah. That was great. It was a pain to practice, though."

Ford groaned, "I give up. I went to a dimension where touching lips was a typical greeting for allies joined in a cause. I didn't know this until I had joined a group of people in a rebel uprising to topple their government and suddenly I was being kissed wherever I went."

Stan snickered, "Wow, Sixer.... That's...."

"I punched a guy in the face for trying to kiss me." Mabel decided to share.

"Then we both got detention." Dipper continued the story.

"What?" Stan frowned, "Mabel hit the kid, why'd you get punished?"

"Because I broke his tooth for physically assaulting my sister." He stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay, good point." Stan nodded, "I'm proud of you both."

"Stanley Pines!" Three voices shouted angrily.

Stan grinned, "I love it when that happens. It means I did something right."

Fiddleford groaned, "Physical violence is never the answer."

"Yeah, use scare tactics and emotional and verbal violence." Stan countered, "Harder to prove."

Fiddleford frowned and smack Stan in the back of the head, "Unless it's towards your uncles, because nothing else gets through their gosh darned skulls."

"Hey, why am I included in that?" Ford huffed.

Fiddleford stared at him for no more than a second before Ford remembered literally everything he did that he'd been told not to do that lead towards the apocalypse.

"Oh, yeah. Right. My bad."

 

Mabel insisted they go outside in the newly fallen snow. Her and Dipper wrapped up, finally back to wearing their own wardrobes, and hurried outside to make snow angels and snowmen and snow monsters.

"I make a snow Grunkle Stan!" Mabel declared with pride and gesturing to the well-built figure.

"Nice one, sweetie!" Stan grinned, "Look at that handsome snow devil!"

Ford and Shermie came out holding two cups of hot chocolate each and handed one of theirs off to Stan and Fiddleford.

"This is nice." Fiddleford smiled into his cup, "I used to hate snow. Snow meant I had to fortify things so I didn't freeze to death. But this.... This is much better."

Stan smiled and wrapped an arm around Fiddleford's shoulder, "You won't ever have to worry about that again, okay? If you ever find yourself in need of anything, you come see me, okay?"

Fiddleford smiled, "Alri-" he froze when a bunch of snow smacked Stan straight in the face. Stan stared, wide eyed, still smiling, and gently handed Fiddleford his cup. Once it was securely in his hand, Stan stood and let the snow fall to the ground.

"You two." He stepped off the porch, "Just declared war."

Mabel and Dipper looked at one another, grabbed a handful of snow each, and shouted battle cries as they ran at him with it.

It wasn't long before Stan dragged Ford out to help him in what he dubbed a "Twin battle royale!"

Stan and Ford took cover in the nearby pine trees while Mabel and Dipper built a hasty snow wall to protect them. Snowballs flew in every direction and Fiddleford and Shermie often found themselves dodging mounds of snow to keep themselves warm.

"ALPHA TWINS! ALPHA TWINS!" Mabel and Dipper chanted as they attacked.

Somehow, the younger pair had gotten ahold of a lid to a trash can and brandished it as a shield as they ran towards the trees, forcing Stan and Ford to hurry out of their cover or be ambushed. They stole the wall the kids had built and hurried with creating more ammunition, laughing all the while.

Fiddleford wasn't sure exactly what classes those children were taking in high school, but it had to have something to do with strategy. He watched as a rain of snowballs came from within the trees, never slowing its onslaught. The older twins had to hunker down, unable to find a time to throw back.

And then Fiddleford realized Mabel was alone. Dipper had come back out while Stan and Ford were distracted, scooped up an enormous amount of snow in the trash can lid, snuck up behind his uncles, and dumped it straight on their heads.

As Mabel and Dipper cheered over their victory, Stan and Ford signed to one another. Fiddleford caught a glimpse of Stan's words, but Ford's back was to him.

All he saw was _I'll get Mabel._

The twins nodded to each other and Ford tackled Dipper, lifting him into the air and screaming "REVENGE!" as Stan leapt over the snow wall and scooped up Mabel the same way.

Mabel and Dipper laughed as they were tickled while still hanging in the air by the hands that tormented them, squealing and laughing.

"Say uncle!" Stan demanded of them.

"Say Grunkles!" Ford revised.

In the end, the children gave in to their tormenters demands and cried "GRUNKLES!" as loud as they could.

As soon as they were on the ground, Dipper and Mabel hurried to be out of arm's reach from the older twins. They both hid behind the nearest person, which happened to be Fiddleford.

"Evil! Evil Grunkles!"

"Save us from the evil Grunkles, Grandpa Fids!"

Fiddleford paused a moment and looked down at Mabel, "What was that?"

"Is that okay?" She asked, "I just thought of it and it sounded cute...."

Dipper smiled, "I like it, too! Can we call you Grandpa Fids? It's a lot more informal than Mister McGucket or Mister Fiddleford."

Fiddleford looked up at Stan and Ford, who were grinning at him.

And then the tears came and he knelt down and scooped the children in his arms and hugged them tight.

"Of course you can! I'd love that more than anything!"


	13. Mistletoe, Hearth, Blizzard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blizzard, cuddling for warmth, and a cliffhanger

Everyone was gathered in the barely-used showing room and the hearth that sat within. Mabel and Dipper had gone through the whole house and brought every pillow, blanket, and couch cushion they could find to keep everyone comfortable and warm.

A blizzard roared outside, not so hard that it was an immediate threat to living conditions, but enough that the power knocked out and everything was freezing.

Ford and Dipper passed the time by playing Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons, using the light of the fireplace and a lantern to map out their world and design their game.

Mabel and Stan showed Shermie how to play Necronomiconopoly. Fiddleford decided to be a neutral party and take care of the money and graveyard for the game. He also refused to let Stan cheat, even thought it happened anyways.

These games knocked away a couple of hours at best, and eventually got boring and repetitive.

Then Mabel suggested truth or dare, which was innocent enough after Dipper set the "nothing that can be used against us as blackmail" rule.

They told ghost stories, a couple of them actual stories they'd been through, and even came up with new ideas for the Mystery Shack.

Eventually, a food run was needed. Everyone bundled up with blankets and herded to the kitchen where they raided all the leftovers from Mabel's party and brought them back to the showing room.

And there they stayed, sharing stories and munching on snack food and playing card and board games.

 

Ford had no idea what time it was when he woke up. The power was still out. The fire in the hearth had been put out when they'd all gone to sleep and the blizzard outside seemed to have died down a little. He looked around and saw everyone else was still asleep, curled up and cuddled close for warmth.

Ford chuckled when he noticed Fiddleford had managed to crawl on top of Stan again in his sleep and adjusted the blankets so his socked feet were covered.

He made his way to the kitchen and checked to see if anything could be used as breakfast food.

Pop Tarts worked.

He carried the two boxes he found back and took a package of brown sugar ones for himself.

Slowly, everyone woke up and ate. Stan started the fire back up and warmth spread through the room quickly.

"This is fun." Dipper chuckled and cuddled closer to his sister, "Freezing together with Pop Tarts, Pitt Cola, and chips."

"Family bonding at its best." Mabel agreed, "Dipper, will you come with me to get my knitting stuff? I'm bored."

"Yeah, sure. It's something to do." They got up, sticking close, and went to get her things.

Fiddleford scooted into Stan's lap and pulled his knees up to his chest, "I am so envious of you and your large amount of body heat right now."

Stan chuckled and pulled a blanket around them and held Fiddleford close.

Ford sighed. This again. The flirting and cuddling and obliviousness.

It was torturous.

"I'm gonna grab something." He wrapped himself in a blanket and left, heading up the stairs to talk to the kids.

 

When Ford came back with the kids, he helped Dipper set down all of Mabel's yarn while she went over to Stan and placed a headband on his head.

"Huh? What's this?" He looked up at the sprig of mistletoe and frowned.

"This is an intervention." She told him.

"We're done." Dipper plopped down onto a cushion, "We're so tired of it."

"I can't take it any more, Lee." Ford sighed and sat down, signing something he'd found himself signing often over the break.

_Tell him._

Fiddleford finally looked up at what Mabel had given Stan and froze.

Oh.


	14. Challenge, Rest, Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, giving into peer pressure is a good idea.

 

"Do it." Ford demanded, "I am legitimately challenging you right now. Do it or I'll do it for you."

Fiddleford hesitated, "St-Stanley?"

Stan bit his lip and tapped his fingers on his knee anxiously.

"Lee." Ford waved at him, "Breathe or you're going to have a panic attack."

"Okay, okay!" Stan took a deep breath.

"Stanley, what's wrong?" Fiddleford asked, turning so he see Stan's face better.

Stan looked down at him, "Ford's, uh.... He's asked me to do something...."

Fiddleford nodded, "What's that?"

"Uh...." He hesitated, "To, uh, to teach you a couple new signs."

Ford smiled and held up a hand when Dipper went to protest.

"Alright?" Fiddleford smiled, "I'd love to learn new things."

Stan held up his hand in a sign Fiddleford knew but didn't understand. Thumb, index finger, and pinky out with the middle and ring fingers down.

"Oh, the one you showed me before?" Fiddleford copied it, "What does it mean?"

Stan smiled, "It's a phrase. The sign for it is from the first letter of the words in the phrase." He dropped his pinky and thumb, "I," he added his thumb again, "L," he dropped his index finger and added his pinky, "And Y." He added his index finger back to make the sign again, "It means I love you, Fids."

Fiddleford paused and looked from Stan's hand to his face, "Wait, you-" he felt his face turn red and smiled, "Oh my goodness!" He covered his face for a moment before he wrapped his arms around Stan's neck, "You are adorable, you know that? Absolutely precious."

Stan frowned, "What? I am not."

Fiddleford grinned and kissed Stan full on the mouth, giggling the whole time.

Stan grinned and fell backwards, holding Fiddleford against his chest. He pressed his forehead against Fiddleford's and ran his hands through his hair, "I guess this means you love me, too?"

"Of course I do, you wonderful, adorable, perfect man!" Fiddleford laughed and kissed him again.

"PDA!" Dipper shouted and threw his Pop Tarts wrapper at them.

Fiddleford laughed and peppered kisses across Stan's face, everywhere he could reach. Stan laughed and allowed himself to be smooched, even moving his head to give Fiddleford better access to I kissed areas.

"Okay, gross!" Ford threw an empty Pop Tarts box at them, "Go be romantic and sappy somewhere else! I'm just happy you finally actually told him."

 

When the power finally came back on, the phone immediately rang. Mabel answered it and, as expected, it was Pacifica calling to make sure her girlfriend was okay.

So, of course, Mabel told Pacifica all about Stan's confession.

Stan and Fiddleford were sitting in Stan's chair, cuddled up as they had been doing for the past few days. The main difference was now they were being disgustingly adorable. Fiddleford continued attacking Stan's face with kisses while Stan held him against his chest.

Luckily for Ford's sanity, the giggling and audible smooching didn't last long. The pair fell asleep cuddled up to one another, Fiddleford's head resting against Stan's shoulder, and Stan's head against his.

Ford covered the pair with a blanket and left them be. He sighed and smiled. He supposed they deserved to be sickeningly adorable after waiting for so long for them to just fucking kiss.

He paused a moment and leaned in to whisper to his brother, "If you fuck up this thing with Fids I will _destroy_ you."


End file.
